


Undercover Love

by Vegorott



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Hitman AU, M/M, dark is stubborn, slow burnish for danti, wil is flirty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2019-06-01 10:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 35
Words: 44,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15141134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vegorott/pseuds/Vegorott
Summary: The Ipliers and Septiceyes are both groups of hitmen for hire, the do more than killing for money but hey find it easier to call themselves that. The Ipliers are strict, very organized and their leader is seen as stiff and professional while the Septieyes are more fun-loving and their leader is seen more as a parent. The two groups end up needing to work together for a job and after an incident in the Iplier headquarters, they end up in the same building and soon they have to learn how to accept and adapt to the other's style of work.





	1. Meet The Septics

Dark and Wilford stepped up to the silver building, the camera above the door told them that they were being watched. Dark just raised a brow before holding a piece of paper up to the camera. There was a pause and then a loud buzzer went off, the door popping open as soon as it was done.

“Fancy.” Wilford sang with a little shimmy. Dark only rolled his eyes before stepping into the building first, Wilford right behind him and then moving to his side the moment he was able to.

“We’re here to get the information we need and then we’re going home. That’s it.” Dark stated as they walked, both of them stopped when they found a purple haired man sitting on the floor, folding some brightly colored paper. The man was highly focused on his craft to notice Dark and Wilford. Dark tried to get his attention by clearing his throat but got nothing. “Hello?”

“Hi!” The man greeted with a large smile when he looked up at them and then went back to his folding. Dark made a face and stiffened but Wilford stepped forward before Dark could speak again.

“I’m Wilford, and this is my friend Dark, we’re here from the Ipliers.” The man perked up when Wilford said the last word.

“Oh!” The man scrambled to his feet and bounced a little. “I’m Robbie! Follow me!” He said cheerfully and walked off.

“He sounds like a child,” Dark said in a whisper to Wilford as they followed Robbie.

“I think it’s-oh my God, it smells like chocolate!” Wilford shouted when a large, iron door was opened, the strong scent hitting them both.

“Welcome to the Septiceyes!” Robbie giggled and ran deeper into the large room. Robbie went up to a wall that was covered with monitors and control panels that stuck out by several feet.

“Hey, Robbo, are they here?” A man with light green hair and a hat asked. Robbie nodded his head and took one of the cookies that were on a plate. The man turned his head and saw Dark and Wilford. “Hello!” The man greeted and went over to the two.

“Cookies?” Dark asked, raising a brow.

“You can help yourself if you wish.” The man offered.

“No thank-”

“Sweet!” Wilford chuckled and went to the control panel.

“I’m Chase, head of the Septiceyes.”

“Dark. Head of the Ipliers.” Dark took the hand Chase had held out and shook it. “And that’s our weapon’s expert, Wilford. Sometimes I hesitate to call him second in command.” Dark said the last part as a mumble.

“Marvin!” Chase called over his shoulder. “He’s my second in command.”

“What do you need?” A man with dark green hair and a cat mask asked. “Is this the head of the Ipliers?”

“Yes. I’m here for the information about our newest target. We were told to speak with you since it seems the target has had past relations with the target.” Dark stated.

“Anti.” Marvin and Chase said together.

“Who?” Dark asked.

“You’ll meet him later, he’s...resting.” Chase chuckled.

“You spooked me a little.” Wilford chuckled as Dark continued his conversation with Marvin and Chase.

“ _Sorry_.” The man who had snuck up on him signed.

“Maybe you can make it up to me later? Mr…”

_“J-A-M-E-S-O-N or J-J.”_

“Well, Jamesy, I gotta say I do love your bowtie.” Wilford winked, pinching the end of JJ’s bowtie with his thumb and index finger. “I’m a fan of them myself.” JJ just went a little red and silently giggled. “If you’re not busy tonight, would you mind-”

“Wilford, we’re leaving.” Dark’s call cut Wilford short.

“Perhaps I could give you my-” Wilford stopped again when JJ took a marker from his vest’s pocket and wrote his phone number on Wilford’s arm.

“Text. Me.” JJ signed and winked. Wilford just chuckled deeply and awkwardly pointed as Dark called his name again.

“Bye,” Wilford said and followed Dark out of the room.

“Someone’s crushing~” Chase sang when the two Ipliers left. JJ’s face was a little redder and he placed a hand to his cheek. “I’m sure I can find some reason to get them to come back.”

“I’m sure the pink one would not complain.” A man wearing a red outfit and blue eyes mask giggled, bouncing over to hug the still blushing JJ.

“Pink one? Who are you talking about, Jackie?” A man with a long, thick scar across his neck asked as he entered the room. “Did I miss something?”

“The Ipliers were here just a moment ago and JJ here has a crush on one of them,” Chase explained.

“Oh~” The man looped his arm through JJ’s. “Does someone want some Iplier booty? And by the sounds of it, there were two and that sounds twice as fun.”

“I don’t like what you’re implying, Anti.” A man with a thick German accent called from a couch on the other side of the room.

“I would never imply anything, Henrik,” Anti said with fake offense, placing a hand to his chest.

“Your life is nothing but innuendos and then acting out on those innuendos,” Henrik stated.

“At least I have some fun, Mr. Stiff. Although I doubt you’re able to-”

“Don’t make me put you in time out,” Chase warned.

“But-”

“How about we change the subject?” Marvin suggested, handing Anti a piece of paper. “It looks like an ex of yours has gotten into some trouble.”

“Sweet.” Anti chuckled. “Let’s give her hell.”

Back at the Iplier’s headquarters, Dark was trying to read the information he had been given by the Septiceyes while Wilford told the others about what had happened.

“Dude! You got his number already!? It took Googs weeks to even speak to me.”

“It did not take me that long, Bing.” Googs, also known as Google, protested.

“It took a month for you to kiss him.” Wilford teased.

“I’m sorry that I don’t like rushing into things like everyone else.” Google huffed while Bing hugged his arm.

“It was worth the wait.” Bing giggled.

“You two are gross.” The man sitting next to the two stuck out his tongue.

“Bim’s just jealous that he’s too embarrassed to ask out-”

“Hush!” Bim cut Wilford off when a young woman with bright red hair joined the group. “Hi, Yandere.” Bim greeted with a nervous chuckle.

“Host would like to say that Dark’s annoyance is clear as he tries to read the report.” Host, a man with a bloodied cloth over his eyes, stated.

“I can’t read half of what is here.” Dark huffed, tossing the papers down. “Her handwriting is nothing but swirls and his looks like he took his pen and drew lines and dots all over it.”

“Shall Bing and I take a look?” Google offered.

“Be my guest. Wilford and I will most likely go back over tomorrow to get a clarification and no, Wil, you can’t spend the whole time flirting with that Septiceye.” Dark said as Google got up and gathered the report.

“You have to admit that he’s cute.” Wilford chuckled. “Although, you, Mr. Grump, don’t really do ‘relationships’.” He added with an eye roll.

“They’re a waste of time,” Dark said.

“Are you saying Bing and Google are wasting their time?” Wilford asked.

“Everyone else is free to do as they pleased as long as we get the job done. I just don’t think it’s worth my time.” Dark got out of his chair and started to walk off.

“You know you have a heart, Dark,” Wilford called after him, not seeing the downwards glance Dark made at the ground when he paused at the exit. “You do.” He added before Dark left completely.


	2. Code Orange

“She was a crazy bitch, but she really knew how to suck some-”

“Anti!” Chase scolded, covering Robbie’s ears. 

“I’m just joking. She never did that anyway, she was too stuck up to think of anyone but herself.” Anti said, voice coming through the control panel, his body not visible from the cameras they hacked into yet. 

“Of course she’s self-centered. She’s a mob-boss daughter.” Marvin said, crossing his arms while Chase ushered Robbie to the couch with Henrik and Jackie. “She’s used to getting everything she wants at the snap of her fingers.” 

“Yeah yeah, when’s the Iplier dude supposed to get here?” Anti asked. 

“His name is Bim and he should be there at any moment. He’s there to help you create a distraction while JJ sneaks in and gets the info we need.” Chase stated, coming back to the control panel, finally seeing Anti on a monitor. 

“But I’m bored!” Anti whined. 

“There’s a  _ Tetris  _ game in your bag,” Chase said, smiling a little when Anti cheered with joy and dug into his backpack. 

“They said there were going to be here at five, right?” Henrik asked, checking his watch and flailing a little when the door opened the moment his watched turned to five. 

“Creepy,” Marvin said in a whisper to Chase when Bim walked into frame at the same time. 

“Very punctual,” Chase whispered back. “I see you brought the others.” Chase waved a hand at the Ipliers to let them know that they could enter fully. 

“Everyone has their specialties and they need to know everything that is going on,” Dark stated.  

“I made lemon squares if you guys want some.” 

“Lemon squares?” Google’s eyebrows went up while Bing giggled. 

“Robbie, do you mind?” Chase asked and Robbie nodded his head before picking the plate up and heading over to Google and Bing. Dark just rolled his eyes and went over to Chase. 

“The two there are Google and Bing, our tech experts. Behind them is Host, our researcher, next to him is Dr. Iplier, our medical expert, and next to him and Yandere, our close combat expert.” Dark introduced the group.  

“Love the skirt,” Marvin said with a smile. 

“Thank you.” Yandere giggled, giving a little curtsy. 

“Robbe there is a decoy we use, he’s also our little one,” Chase said.

“I make distractions,” Robbie stated and skipped away. 

“Dude in the lab coat is Henrik, our good doctor. Superbro is Jackieboyman, we all just call him Jackie, he’s our fighter and our techy Anti and sneaky man JJ are out there with Bim, your ‘charmer’.” Chase shimmied a little. 

“Social expert.” Dark corrected. 

“So, JJ’s not here,” Wilford said with disappointment. 

“We are here on business, Wilford,” Dark said. 

“You two can have your fun after we’re done.” Chase winked. “I know I am.” He added in a whisper to Marvin. Dark was too busy watching the monitors to catch what Chase had said. 

“I see JJ and Bim, but where is Anti?” Dark asked. 

“He’s probably already at the house that-” Chase pressed a key and the monitors changed their angles. “Anti?” Chase pressed another button twice. “Anti, where are you? Anti!?” 

“Shit! Fucking, great!” Anti cursed loudly. “Send the Ipliers home, now! Hopefully, it’s not too late.” 

“Too late? Too late for what? I will not be left clueless.” Dark said harshly. 

“Code orange! It’s an Orange!” Anti’s voice became static. 

“You brought everyone here, right?” Chase asked, clicking several buttons. 

“Yes, but what is a-” 

“JJ! Code Orange at the Ipliers’, see if you can get Bim there in time, Anti’s already on his way and should be there soon. I’m sending the Ipliers down with Jackie and Henrik and I’ll be following as soon as everything is settled here.” Chase stated, hearing two beeps in his ear as confirmation. “Jackie, Henrik! Go! Follow them in the Cherry.” Henrik and Jackie both quickly got up and took off. 

“Are you going to tell me what a Code Orange is or not?” Dark asked, gripping Chase’s upper arm. 

“Hopefully, I’ll have to tell you instead of you seeing it,” Chase said. 

“Dark, we should go,” Wilford said, already ushering the other Ipliers out.

“Fine,” Dark growled before running out with Wilford. 

“Marvin, stay here with Robbie,” Chase said, pressing a few more buttons. 

“I’m coming with everyone,” Marvin stated. 

“Someone has to watch Robbie, I’m not leaving him here alone.” Chase heard some static in his earpiece. 

“Confirmed Orange! Confirmed!” Anti’s voice was glitching out. 

“Shit!” Chase cursed and removed the headset. 

“I’m coming,” Marvin said sternly. 

“Okay, okay, just stay back with Robbie, okay?” Chase grabbed a briefcase from under the control panel. 

“Do you really think you’ll need it?” Marvin asked as took Robbie’s hand and ran out with Chase. 

“Most likely not,” Chase replied.

“I don’t know what a Code Orange is, but it better be something important if Chase has the nerve to tell me what to do.” Dark huffed as Wilford drove the Ipliers’ van towards their headquarters. 

“I hate being in the van.” Yandere grumbled. 

“We can’t use our usual transportation with the Septiceyes following us, don’t wanna scare them,” Wilford said, adjusting the rearview mirror to see the red car behind them. “I bet everything’s al-fuck!” Wilford slammed on the breaks and they scrambled out of the van. 

“I’m guessing that’s a Code Orange,” Bing said softly, his sunglasses reflecting the flames that engulfed the building.

“Google, Bing! Go in and try to get all of our reports and your laptops! Yandere, Host, find a hydrant or something to put out those flames!” Dark started giving orders. “Wilford go...” Dark’s voice trailed off when he saw someone step out of the building, two laptops and a stack of papers in one hand and dragging a corpse with the other by their long, blonde hair. 

“Chemical fire, you ain’t gonna get it out with water.” The man stated, dropped the body and went up to Dark. “Bitch learned the hard way not to mess with something she didn’t know.” He chuckled as he glanced back at the corpse, the wound on her neck still seeping blood. “Here’s your computers and reports, it’s all I could get too before it got a little too hot to handle.” The man giggled, handing Dark the pile. “I’m assuming you’re the big and bad Dark. Name’s Anti.” He winked. 

Dark found himself just staring at the man. The scar on his neck stood out like a sore thumb, but it wasn’t ugly, it actually added to his entire...being. The gauges, messy forest green hair, black, tight, shirt and ripped skinny jeans it was different than Dark was used to and he could just not stop staring. What was about their man that was making him do this? What was so special about him? Anti was just...different. That was it. He was just confused since he was used to his own group and the people he was hired by. That was it. That was the only thing. 


	3. First Night

**_"_** How many times have I told you to tell us when you get hurt and not wait till hours later when it’s a lot worse?” Chase scolded Anti as Henrik picked out splinters from his palm.

“I didn’t know it happened until just now.” Anti protested. “Ow! Henrik, a little gentle, please!”

“They’re deep in there, I can only do so much,” Henrik stated, dropping a splinter into a plastic bowl.

“How did she even find our headquarters? How did she even get in?” Dark groaned into his hands.

“Mafia. They have their ways.” Wilford sighed, chewing at his lip nervously.

“You guys are welcomed to stay here.” Chase offered, grabbing some blankets and heading over to the couch where Robbie was sleeping on one end and Bing was resting against Google on the other. “We have a few spare rooms, some of you might need to share.” He added as he laid a blanket across Robbie and then wrapped the other around Google and Bing. Google just nodded his thanks, too tired to really care at the moment. “Jackie, you still awake?”

“Huh, uh, yeah.” Jackie yawned and groaned as he stretched. “What do you need?”

“Do you mind checking the spare rooms and seeing what all we have?” Chase asked.

“No problemo.” Jackie did a small salute before walking off.

“We are professionals. This should not have happened.” Dark was now rubbing his temples. “It still doesn’t make any sense.”

“Right now, you should be worried about getting some rest. We all spent hours today going through your headquarters and trying to save what we could. And everyone needs some sleep or tomorrow’s going to be worse.” Chase stated, unaffected by the harsh glare Dark gave him.

“He’s right.” Dr. Iplier said, finishing looking over Bim, none of the Ipliers had been injured than a few little scrapes. “We should rest while we can, we’re going to have a mob family on our asses since the head’s daughter is now dead and they know who we are.”

“Fine.” Dark agreed.

“Marvin, you can head on to bed. I’ll take care of Robbie as soon as the others are fine.” Chase said.

“Quit babying me,” Marvin said in a teasing tone, lightly slapping Chase’s arm.

“I’m not babying.” Chase started pinching Marvin’s cheeks. “This is babying you.” He said in a cooing voice.

“There, all done,” Henrik said, cutting the last of Anti’s bandage. “If I’m no longer needed, I’m off to bed.”

“We’ll see you in the morning, doc,” Chase said, letting Marvin’s face go. “Do you mind checking in on JJ?”

“One step ahead of you,” Henrik called as he left.

“JJ’s going to be up hours before us tomorrow.” Marvin chuckled.

“That just means he can have extra coffee made for us,” Chase said.

“We have six rooms. Four are singles, one is for couples and one has two beds.” Jackie reported, peeking his head into the room. All have blankets.”

“Thank you, Jackie. Good night.” Chase said.

“Night,” Jackie said quickly and was gone as fast as he appeared.

“Bing and Google, take the couple room, Wilford and I will share the double and the rest take your own room,” Dark said. “All of you go ahead, I’ll call it a night in a few.”

“I’ll get Robbie and you can lead them to the rooms,” Chase said to Marvin.

“Follow the leader.” Marvin chuckled and walked out of the room, the Ipliers all getting up and following but Wilford and Dark.

“Are you sure?” Wilford asked.

“I just need some time to think,” Dark answered.

“I’ll drag you to the room if you’re not there in an hour,” Wilford said and left as well.

“Make sure to ‘sleep’ Anti,” Chase said before he was gone with Robbie, leaving Anti and Dark alone in the room in their own chairs.

“So...sorry about what my ex did,” Anti said after a long pause of silence. “She’s a little...different.”

“She set my entire headquarters on fire with chemicals,” Dark said, eyes hard.

“She’s a mob daughter.” Anti shrugged. “Wish I knew that before I dated her.” Dark just rubbed his face some more. “I’m not straight.” Anti suddenly said.

“What?”

“Figured I’d try to break the ice a little better than talking about a shitty ex.” Anti scratched his cheek. Dark just sighed, it was better than talking about the ash pile that used to be his headquarters.

“Are you bi?” Dark asked.

“Yep.” Anti popped the ‘p’.

“Wilford’s pan,” Dark stated. “He tends to flirt with anyone but he won’t do anything until he’s sure the person’s actually attractive to him.”

“He’s flambe?” Dark raised a brow in questioning. “A flaming pan,” Anti explained, getting a little laugh to come out of both of them.

“I guess you could call him that, he is a little eccentric.” Dark tilted his head to the side and rubbed the back of his neck.

“And you? Are you flambe?” Anti asked, now leaning his cheek against the hand he had used to scratch it. Dark just chewed the inside of his cheek. “Ace?”

“No,” Dark said. “That’s Host and the Jims.”

“The Jims?” Anti watched as Dark shook his head, showing him that he didn’t want to answer that question.

“Is Robbie a child?” Dark asked.

“Ish?” It was Anti’s turn to chew his cheek. “It’s a long story.”

“Understandable.” Dark nodded. “We all have our stories.”

“You got that right.” Anti chuckled and then there was another long pause between the two. “I’m excited to kick some mob ass.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Dark stated. “You guys just continue doing...whatever it is you do.”

“We do the same thing you guys do,” Anti said.

“It’s a little chaotic here to truly believe that.”

“Chaotic?” Anti straightened up. “We may not be stiff and uptight like you Ipliers, but we get the job done and we don’t hate ourselves while working.”

“It’s a job. Not a playground.” Dark crossed his arms. “How none of you have gotten killed is beyond me.”

“Well, I’m sorry that none of us have been killed!” Anti snapped and stood up. “At least we know how to have a life!” Anti turned away quickly and stormed off. “Stuck-up, prick!” He added before leaving the room completely.

Dark was now alone in the room. That’s what he was used to. Being alone. He didn’t need anyone. He could handle everything on his own.


	4. Breakfast At The Septiceyes

Dark could feel his internal clock screaming at him, he had only gotten a few hours of sleep, dozing off when he would usually be getting up. He was tired, hungry, thirsty and in the need to hide in a dark corner and try to relax. But he knew that was a long ways away and stepping into the cooking area, finding it by following the scent of food, made that assumption clearer.

“Anti! Turn the music down!” Chase called from the kitchen table where Robbie was sitting in front of him and was getting his hair brushed.

 _“I’m gonna be your bubblegum bitch!”_ Anti sang loudly along with the music, dancing in the center of the kitchen.

“You’re gonna have a burned ass if you don’t move,” Marvin warned, gesturing his fork towards Anti as bacon sizzled in front of him on the stovetop.

“I don’t do ass burns,” Henrik stated, heading over to Jackie with a bowl of pancake mix while Jackie was making sure the griddle was warm. JJ was the only one not yelling or running around as he rocked his head to the music and chopped up some vegetables.

“Robbie, did you get gum in your hair again?” Chase asked.

“No...ow!” Robbie squeaked and placed his hands over his head. “Maybe.”

“Anti, can you get me an ice cube?” Chase waited a moment for a response. “Anti!”

“I got’cha!” Anti was already at the fridge opened the left side.

“Is this what you were speaking of?” Google asked as he came into the kitchen from the other entrance, a jar of hair gel in his hand.

“Yes, thank you!” Chase took the gel. “Usually Marvin gets it but we’re busy this morning.”

“No problem.” Google straightened up when he saw Dark. “Hello Dark, we’re all in the living room-uh-control room.” He stated before leaving. Anti was giving Chase an ice cube at the point and looked at Dark and Google said his name. Anti twitched his nose and went behind Chase, wrapping his arms around him and hiding his face in the crook of his neck.

“What’s got you pouting now?” Chase asked, using the hand that wasn’t holding the ice cube to gently scratch Anti’s head and chuckling when Anti just nuzzled his face in. Dark felt a little twinge in the pit of his stomach and didn’t understand what it meant. He just nodded his head and walked away as well, heading towards the ‘living room’ area.

“I was about to come get you.” Wilford chuckled, walking up to Dark and handing him a mug that was filled with tea. “Anti made a pot this morning.”

“Anti drinks tea?” Dark said in disbelief. Anti did not seem like a tea person.

“He drinks coffee for the taste and tea for the caffeine,” Wilford explained. Dark just hummed and took a sip of the tea, finding that it was actually very pleasant. It was sweet and fruity and strong but not overbearing. Dark hated to admit it, but Anti knew his tea.

“We were told that after breakfast we’d be able to start work on tracking the mob that burned down our headquarters,” Bim said, setting down a card for the game he, Bing and Yandere were playing.

“When did I ever say that?” Dark asked.

“We’re guests,” Wilford said softly, turning Dark away from the others. “They do things differently here.”

“I would have never guessed that they do things differently here.” Dark scoffed. “But you are my team. Not Chase’s.”

“It’s a temporary thing. You’re still in charge but we just need to keep in mind that we don’t own this building. The control panel isn’t ours, the food that is currently being made for us isn’t ours, we are guests.” Wilford had a hand on Dark’s shoulder. “You know it’s bad when I’m the voice of reason.”

“Fine. We’ll respect their rules but that does not mean we are to slack off.” Dark stated, heading over to the couch and sitting next to Google, who had Bing in front of him and on the floor between his legs, leaning his head against the side of his knee. Seeing that caused the same twinge in Dark’s stomach that had happened when Anti had hugged Chase. It was probably nothing but he made a mental note to talk with Dr. Iplier if it persisted and got worse. The twinge wasn’t painful it just felt...gross. It was slightly nauseating and he could feel some heat in the back of his throat and there was a hint of anger making his head slightly ache. Perhaps he was getting a cold or something. Was he even able to do that?

“Alrighty! Breakfast is served!” Chase announced, peeking his head into the room. “Come on in and help yourselves.” He added before popping his head away. Dark just sat his mug down and waited for the others to go into the room and followed them.

“A’ight, we got chocolate chip, blueberry, and regular pancakes. Bacon’s over there, cheese and veggie eggs over there and the milk and fruit juices are on the table with cups. If ya want water, the sink has a filter on it and you just have to turn that little thing.” Chase gestured as he pointed everything out. “Dark, if you want more tea, the pot is on the stove and the coffee lover’s pot is next to that. Dig in!”

Dark found himself watching again, seeing how the Septiceyes worked was like a show that was doomed to be canceled or something. Chase was at Robbie’s side and helping him get some eggs, also letting Host know what was in them since he was waiting to help himself next. Henrik was getting some bacon with Dr. Iplier, the two of them laughing when they tried to grab a piece at the same time. Bing and Google were pouring themselves some juice, Bing pouring a second cup of apple juice when Chase asked him to get some for Robbie and Google asked what Chase wanted and Chase said he’d take care of himself later. Marvin gave him a little nudge and whispered something at him before going to finish making his own plate.

Anti was sitting on the counter next to the pancakes and plopping them down on Jackie’s and JJ’s plates as they walked by, already knowing what kind the wanted. Anti complimented the design on Yandere’s nails and asked if she could help keep his black polish on longer and Yandere answered with a giggle while Bim made a scrunched up face. Anti pushed Bim’s glasses up with a finger and said he had nothing to worry about before asking what pancake they wanted. Dark didn’t understand how Anti could be like...well...that? He looked like someone who was always in trouble with the law, scars, and gauges and torn clothing screamed rebel and he had a snarky attitude to add and yet he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Anti and felt some heat in his chest when Anti rubbed at Robbie’s hair when he came up to him, calling him ‘Robocop’ and making sure to fix his hair after giving him a pancake and sending him back over to Chase. Robbie also looked really happy having been with Anti or ‘Ant’ as the purple-haired man called him. Dark chewed his cheek and grabbed a plate for himself, heading over to Anti.

“Here to insult how we do breakfast?” Anti said with a huff. “It must be hard to not have everything all prim and proper.” And there was the snark.

“There’s nothing wrong with a bit of organization,” Dark stated.

“And there’s nothing wrong with taking that stick out of your ass.” Anti stuck his tongue out.

“At least I’m not childish.”

“At least I’m not boring.”

“Boring? I-” Dark bit back his tongue, it was not worth getting into an argument this early in the morning with the lack of sleep he’s gotten. “The tea you made was delicious.” He chose to say instead, taking a chocolate chip pancake before walking away, not seeing the slight tint of pink on Anti’s cheeks.

“Since we have twice as many people, we can eat in the living room. Everyone take napkins.” Chase said, making sure Robbie had a napkin under his plate and let him go on to the other room. “Anti, you still with us?” Chase asked, going over to Anti and snapping his fingers in front of his face.

“Huh? Uh, yeah. Sorry. Zoned out.” Anti jumped off of the counter. “Saved a blueberry one for ya.”

“Thank you, Anti and I made sure Henrik didn’t take all the bacon.” Chase chuckled and Anti smiled at Chase, neither seeing that Dark was still watching, stepping out when the two went to get their own food.


	5. Warmth

“Robbie, you got syrup in your hair.” Chase sighed, fingers now sticky. “How did you even manage to do that?” Robbie just giggled and shrugged. “Go take a shower, buddy.”

“Okay!” Robbie said, placing his plate down next to the sink before taking off. 

“I told you his shower time should be after breakfast instead of before bed,” Marvin said, using a towel to dry the plate in his hands. 

“I know, I know, but it helps him sleep to take a shower,” Chase said, rinsing off the plate he had been washing and handing it to Marvin. 

“He likes the warmth, we’ll just get him a heating pad and boom, problem solved,” Marvin said. “And then mama can come to bed a little sooner.” He added with a wink. 

“If I’m mama, does that make you daddy?” Chase asked with a smirk.

“I mean, I am your-”

“You two are gross,” Anti said as he entered the kitchen. 

“Since everyone is done eating, you can go ahead and give Bing and Google a rundown on how to connect to the control panel,” Chase said, taking his hands out of the dishwater and drying them as Anti made himself another cup of tea. 

“As long as I don’t have to work with Dark,” Anti grumbled. 

“What’s wrong with Dark?” Marvin asked. Anti just grumbled some more and took a sip from his mug. 

“That’s either a ‘we got into an argument and I’m pissy about it’ or ‘we got into an argument but I wanna touch his face’ grumble,” Chase said. 

“Who’d want to touch his face?” Anti huffed.

“It could be either,” Marvin said with a shrug. 

“Aw, is Anti upset?” Chase said in a teasing voice. “Come here and let mama make you feel better.” 

“Don’t you dare!” Anti tried to run off but Chase managed to catch him, pinching his cheeks. 

“Someone’s being a little sour-puss.” Chase continued teasing. “Is that what you were pouting about this morning? Did mean ol’ Darky hurt your feelings?” 

“Stop.” Anti held out the word and batted Chase’s hands away. 

“It’s okay, little baby.” Chase pressed a kiss to Anti’s forehead. 

“Chase!” Anti squeaked and started to rub his face into Chase’s chest as if trying to make the kiss go away and making Marvin and Chase both laugh. 

“Hello, Dark.” Marvin’s greeting made Anti stop his movement, but keeping his face against Chase’s chest. 

“We’re ready to get started,” Dark stated, ignoring that annoying twinge in his stomach at the sight of Anti, once again, being physical. 

“Time to go talk with the robo-dudes,” Anti said, walking out of the room without even glancing at Dark but knowing that the man had stiffened at that comment. Chase just gave Dark a smile before he and Marvin left as well, leaving Dark to wonder if they knew something that they shouldn’t. 

Dark went into the control room and saw that Google and Bing were already at the control panel with their laptops open and Anti was pressing buttons on it without even looking down, eyes shifting as if reading something on the screen no one else could see. They were filled with entertainment, showing that he was sucked up in a world Dark would probably never understand. Anti had a little smile on the corner of his lips, enjoying the work he was doing. It was a similar look Bing would have when he finally figured out a hard firewall or something or Google when he hacks into a set of cameras. Wilford had it when he got a new gun, Host when he got a new book, Dr. Iplier with new medical tools, Bim with his ties and Yandere with her swords or makeup. They all have had that look of joy. Of happiness. When did Dark ever have that face? 

Dark stiffened a little when he realized he had been staring at Anti and Anti had caught him. Anti stuck his tongue out at him and giggled before going over to Bing and pointing at something on his screen. Dark felt a warm feeling in his chest, it was different from the twinge, there was no discomfort, no nausea, it was just...warm. 

“I do have a few tricks I could show you later.” Wilford chuckled as Dark sat on the couch next to him. “You do have your own room~” Wilford had JJ practically sitting on his lap and seeing JJ responded with only a wink made the twinge return to Dark’s stomach. He should probably talk to Dr. Iplier the next chance he gets. 

“ _ B-R-B _ .” JJ spelled with a silent laugh before getting up and stepping out of the room. 

“Isn’t he just fantastic?” Wilford sighed, laying his head on Dark’s shoulders. Dark just hummed and pushed Wilford’s away. 

“We don’t have time for you to get all…” Dark waved his hand instead of using words. 

“I’m not the only one who’s fallen for the Septiceye charm.” Wilford chuckled, patting a hand on Dark’s shoulder. Dark felt his face heat up just a little for some reason and quickly realized that Wilford was pointing. Dark let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding and let out a soft huff when he saw that Henrik was talking with Dr. Iplier, both of them chuckling and giggling and clearly trying to flirt with each other. 

“You do realize that you and Dr. Iplier are literally flirting with the enemy? They are our competition.” Dark said in a whisper. 

“You know the phrase, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Wilford winked and got up before Dark could say anything, JJ having come back into the room. 

Dark just crossed his arm and poured in his own way, watching Henrik and Dr. Iplier. Maybe there was a chance the Dr. Iplier was just being friendly and trying to get information from Henrik. Edward was like Dark, smooth, cunning, willing to-that’s a hand on hand move. He’s flirting. Great. 

“Help?” Dark was taken out of his thoughts when he heard Robbie’s voice. Robbie was standing next to him, hair up in spikes from towel drying and he was holding a brush and hair gel towards Dark. It took Dark a moment to catch on to what was going on and he was tempted to tell Robbie to leave but he really needed something to do with his hands since he had to wait until Bing and Google were fully logged in before being able to give proper orders. Dark took the offered brush and waited until Robbie sat down in front of him before starting to fix the mess that was Robbie’s hair. The hair was very soft and easy to get to stay in place once the knots were out and the hair gel helped as well. Dark could tell by the way Robbie was leaning into his hands that he wasn’t hurting the other man, that he was actually enjoying it. Dark was struggling with one strand of hair that just did not want to stay in place and he looked up when he heard a giggle, seeing that Anti had been watching him. When Anti noticed that he’s been caught, he quickly averted his gaze and went back to pointing at Bing’s screen. 

“Robbie’s already grown fond of him,” Marvin said softly to Chase, who had just finished talking to JJ about their plans for the day. 

“There must be something to Dark that we don’t see yet,” Chase said. “It usually takes Robbie a long time to let someone take care of his hair, he still struggles to trust Henrik.” 

“Maybe they have something in common that we don’t know of,” Marvin suggested. 

“We all have our little secrets. We already know about Bing and Google, maybe Dark has one of his own.” 


	6. The Frst Secret

“I’ve hacked into her phone,” Bing stated. “Her dad must have hired some high-end programmers because that was a pain in the ass.” He added with a little chuckle. 

“Good, now see if you’re able to find an address or maybe find her father’s number and get into his phone,” Dark ordered. 

“On it,” Bing said. 

“From what I can gather from the security cameras, she wasn’t working alone,” Google said, using his hand to gesture Dark over to his computer. “She went in with what looks like a large man.” 

“It might be a mob member,” Dark suggested, looking at the screen. 

“If he was, he’s a terrible member.” Google showed a few frames that had the woman and man yelling at each other before the man struck her across the face. 

“Abusive boyfriend?” Dark suggested and stopped when the woman struck the man back. “They’re both abusive.” He suggested instead. 

“I don’t think they’re together. I got some audio.” Google pressed a few keys before there was sound. 

“ _ I don’t know why I agreed to do this. I don’t even know you.” _

“ _ Just shut up and do it. I know you want to get back at him.” _

Anti turned his head when he heard the man’s voice, body going stiff. He silently walked over to Google and Dark, eyes widening when he saw who was on the screen. Chase’s attention had been caught as well when the man spoke and he quickly went over to Anti. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Chase said, getting Dark and Google to turn around, both of them seeing that Anti’s jaw was clenched and he was shaking. “Marvin, Code Green.” Marvin immediately ran over and took Anti by the arm. 

“Let’s go to the kitchen, okay? We can get started on lunch.” Marvin said softly to Anti, gently pulling him away. “We can make pizzas or pasta, what do you think?” Anti just kept looking at the screen as he was moved, eventually facing away and leaving with Marvin. 

“What was that?” Dark asked. 

“All I can say is, if you find that man and you kill him, I will personally pay you for it,” Chase stated and left as well. Dark suddenly had an urge to go into the kitchen as well, to see what had upset Anti so much. Why was he so worried for Anti?

“What do you want us to do?” Google asked, snapping Dark out of his thoughts. 

“Bing, keep going through her phone. Find her father or someone so we can wipe out that entire gang.” Dark said. “Google, see what else you can get from the recordings. Wilford, get your phone out and see if there are any other jobs we can-” Dark stopped again when there was a loud crash from the other room. From the kitchen. Dark saw out of the corner of his eye that Dr. Iplier was getting up but Henrik placed a hand on his shoulder and kept him down, JJ took Wilford’s hand and kept him there as well. Bim and Yandere were both being stopped by Robbie, the young man sitting between them and holding their arms. Host was looking towards the kitchen, brows scrunched together in thought. Dark started towards the kitchen and when he blinked, Jackie was suddenly in front of him. 

“You don’t want to go in there,” Jackie said. There was another crash from the kitchen and Dark stepped to the side to pass Jackie, but Jackie moved with him. 

“Let me through,” Dark said with gritted teeth. 

“You don’t want to go in there,” Henrik said, getting Dark to turn so he’d be facing him. 

“Why not?” Dark asked. 

“Just trust me when I say you don’t.” Was Henrik’s response. 

“Why should I trust you?” Dark asked.

“Dark,” Wilford said in a warning, a scream from the kitchen soon following. 

“What is going on in there. If I’m not allowed to go in there, at least tell me what’s happening or what a Code Green is. The last time you Septiceyes left us out of the loop, we lost our headquarters.” Dark snapped. 

“It’s not our place to say what’s happening or what a Code Green is,” Henrik stated. “We’re not the ones who went through it.” 

“Through what?” Dark was starting to lose his patience. 

“Dark, maybe we shouldn’t push the matter,” Wilford suggested. “This seems  _ personal  _ to them.” 

“If Anti knows the man who helped destroy our headquarters, we need to question him and get some more information,” Dark said. 

“Don’t you have a heart?” Jackie asked harshly. 

“No,” Dark answered with no hesitation. “I have a job.” 

“Dark,” Wilford said softly. 

“Google, Bing, go to the kitchen and figure out what’s happening.” Google went to get up, but Bing placed a hand on his chest to tell him to wait. “Now!” 

“Jackie. Do it.” Henrik sighed. 

“Do what!?” Dark asked. “Why are you being so vague!? We’re never going to get anything done if you don’t cooperate!”  

“Jackie,” Henrik said again, getting Jackie to nod. 

“What are you-” Dark stopped when he was suddenly lifted as if he weighed nothing. Dark looked down and saw that Jackie had an arm around his stomach and was easily carrying him across the room. “What is this!?” 

“Dark, stay calm!” Wilford quickly scrambled to his feet. “Jackie, please put him down. I’ll keep him out of the kitchen, okay? Just put him down!” Jackie looked over at Henrik. 

“Go ahead. I trust Wilford.” Henrik said and Jackie casually tossed Dark to Wilford. Wilford caught Dark and saw him down, being able to actually feel the anger boil inside of Dark. 

“What the hell was that!? How was he able to do that!? How was he able to do that!?” Dark repeated when he saw Jackie move faster than he could blink back over to Google and Bing and holding his hands towards them in warning. “When the hell were you planning on telling us about that!?” 

“When you told us about Google and Bing being androids.” Chase’s voice made the room go still. “Looks like the first secrets are out. I wonder how long it’ll take until the others are known.” He added as he crossed his arms and Anti and Marvin stepped out of the kitchen as well. The room was tense and silent. 

“Let’s get back to work,” Dark stated, fixing his tie and returning to his spot with Google and Bing. 

“How did he-” 

“Just work,” Dark said, cutting off Bing’s question. “We’ll discuss this later.” 


	7. Found Them

“How in the world could they have figured out about Bing and Google?” Dark sighed. “I know that they’re literal search engines, but I assumed people would guess that their names are code names since they’re out technical experts.” 

“Maybe they saw one of them charging or a wire was poking out,” Wilford suggested from the bed he had claimed as his own. 

“Jackie has super strength and speed, what else could they be hiding from us?” Dark slipped off his blazer to hang it up on the side of the wardrobe that had his other worn blazers with. They needed to be cleaned but they didn’t need to get overly wrinkled as well and be in the way. 

“It’s not like we’re hiding a lot from them as well. Like Chase said, the  _ first  _ secrets are out, implying that they know we have more.” 

“Everyone has their secrets,” Dark stated, working on his tie now. Wilford had already changed out of his usual attire and was only wearing a pair of sweatpants. 

“I think ours are a little...special.” Wilford chuckled while Dark rolled his eyes and got the first few buttons of his shirt undone. “I bet you love your disguise, it’s so color-” Wilford stopped when there was a knock on the door. 

“Great.” Dark sighed, taking a quick second to crack his neck and shift his body a little before going to answer the door. 

“Hi, Mr. Dark!” Robbie greeted. “Hi, Mr. Wilford!” Robbie said, peeking his head around Dark to see Wilford. 

“Shouldn’t you be going to bed?” Dark asked. 

“Ant and Chay want to see you. We’re all in the living room.” Robbie pointed next to him and started to walk off. 

“Wonder what they want?” Wilford said, now standing next to Dark. 

“Go put a shirt on and we’ll find out,” Dark said. 

“Nah, I feel like I need to give the nips some air.” Wilford held his hands behind him and stretched. 

“You just want JJ to see you shirtless,” Dark mumbled. 

“Maybe.” Wilford winked and left the room. Dark just grumbled to himself and followed Wilford, seeing that Robbie was working on getting the rest of the Ipliers up as well. 

“Mr. Bing! Mr. Google!” Robbie called out as he kept knocking on the door. “Are you sleeping!?” Robbie tilted his head when he didn’t get a response and he pressed his ear to the door. “Why are they looking for their pants?” 

“They’ll be out soon.” Yandere quickly went over to Robbie and took his hand. “Let’s head on out.” 

“Okay, Miss. Yan-Yan!” Robbie giggled and walked with Yandere, a smiling Bim right behind them. 

“What do you need?” Dark asked when they entered the control room. Anti got a quick look at Dark before he suddenly became very interested in what was on the screen, a tint of pink on his cheeks. Wilford found where JJ was and wiggled his eyebrows at him when he caught him staring. 

“We found them,” Chase stated. “We found the mob that burned down your headquarters.” 

“You got through the firewall? I’ve been working on that for hours!” Bing said as he ran into the room, his shirt not fully pulled down and his stomach showing. Bing yelped when Google suddenly grabbed him from behind and fixed his shirt. “Oh, whoops. Thanks, Googs.” Bing giggled and pressed a kiss to Google’s cheek. Google didn’t say anything and just kept his arms around Bing’s waist and rested his chin on Bing’s shoulder. Dark felt the annoying twinge in his stomach and was thankful when Chase spoke. 

“Anti has some...skills.” Chase chuckled. 

“You gotta show me how you did it,” Bing said. 

“It’s not something that can be taught,” Anti stated. 

“We’ll worry about that later,” Dark said, not looking at Bing and Google. “Tell us the address and we’ll take over from here.” 

“We’re helping,” Chase said. 

“We have this,” Dark said. Chase gave Dark a hard look and he stepped up to him. 

“Listen. Those two burned down your building because they were going after Anti. Anti is one of us and when you come after one of us, you come for all of us. We are helping.” Chase stated and turned away. Dark stiffened and before he could even move, Wilford placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear. Dark took a deep breath and adjusted the collar of his shirt. 

“You have a point,” Dark grumbled and rolled up his sleeves. “Google, Bing, get set up with Anti. Dr. Iplier, go with Henrik and figure out what all they have here. Yandere and Bim, do the same with Jackie. Host, you know what to do and Wilford put on a damn shirt and join Yandere and Bim.” The Ipliers all nodded their heads before taking off to follow their orders. 

“Do I get to play?” Robbie asked, going up to Chase. 

“Sorry, buddy.” Chase rubbed the top of Robbie’s head. “You’re going to stay and help Henrik, okay?” 

“Okay!” Robbie chirped and ran off to Henrik and Dr. Iplier. 

“Jackie, JJ, Anti, and I are going,” Marvin said, going under the control panel and pulling out a box. 

“They’re going to a mob warehouse, are you sure you should be going?” Chase had worry in his voice. 

“I’m going to be fine.” Marvin placed his hand on Chase’s cheek. “Trust me.” Chase nodded his head and Marvin walked off his with box when Dark walked up, not seeing or hearing their little conversation. 

“Yandere, Wilford, and Bim will be heading out as well,” Dark stated. “I’ll be staying here with you to make sure everything goes well.” 

“You’re going to need one of these.” Chase pressed on the control panel and a part of it popped up to show an indent in there holding two large headsets. Chase took one and handed it to Dark while slipping on the other. “You’re going to need to adjust it, Marvin usually uses that one and your head seems to be bigger than his,” Chase said, turning to close the panel and to hide his little smirk. Dark bit his tongue and put the headset on anyway, biting his tongue more when he actually had to adjust them to make it bigger. He turned his head when he heard a little giggle and saw that Anti was smiling at him. Dark quickly looked back away and continued to work on the headset. 

“We got these little earpieces for ya,” Anti said, handing them to Yandere, Bim and tossed one to Wilford when he came back into the room. “Just place the speaker side into your ear and we’ll be able to talk to each other and to everyone back here.” 

“Let me take you guys to the weapons room,” Jackie said while he, Marvin and JJ took their own earpieces. 

“You’re wearing that wrong.” Anti sighed when he saw Dark. 

“It’s on my head.” Dark protested. 

“It’s not going to work if it’s on backward, you’re going to be uncomfortable, very fast, and you seem like the kind to be more of a grump when uncomfortable.” Anti went up to Dark and slipped off his headset. “I also don’t want Chase to bite your head off.” He added with a little giggle and placed the headset back on Dark. “There.” Anti adjusted some of Dark’s hair so it wasn’t sticking up. “Better,” Anti said very softly, the two looking at each other. 

“Anti? Do you want your usual knives?” Jackie called. 

“Uh...Y-Yeah!” Anti called back and walked away. Dark placed a hand on his face, feeling that it was warm and the same warmth was in his chest. What was that about? 

“Hey, Dark, could you say something?” Chase asked.

“Huh?” Dark blinked out of his thoughts. 

“Not what I was expecting, but it worked.” Chase chuckled, pressing a few keys. “Anti, say something.” 

“Hey, sexy~” Anti sang with a little giggle.

“You’re hilarious.” Chase rolled his eyes while Dark felt his face warming up again when he heard Anti’s voice very clearly in his ears. Chase went through everyone that had an earpiece and by the time he was done, they had all returned to the control room. 

“Alright, mission statement.” Dark started with his mind fully back and focused. Although he wasn’t ready for all the Septiceyes to start laughing. 

“Mission statement? Really?” Chase teased. “What are we? A three-star action flick?” Chase stepped in front of Dark. “Go in there, fuck shit up and get back safe.” 

“Got it!” The Septiceyes said.

“That’s your plan? ‘Fuck shit up’? That’s how you get killed. You need a detailed plan to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing.” Dark said.

“We know what we’re doing,” Chase said back. 

“Fine. But if any of my people get hurt, it’s on your head.” Dark threatened with a growl. 

“Shoot me if it happens,” Chase said with a large grin, the Septiceyes all laughing at the comment. 

“Ipliers, move out,” Dark ordered, eyes still on Chase. 

“Septiceyes, have fun.” Chase didn’t blink.


	8. The Second Secret

“If you get tired, I can carry you~” Wilford offered to JJ with a little purr in his voice. 

“It’s just a ten-minute walk, I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Bim said with a shrug, ducking a little when he saw that Wilford was glaring at him. “Oh, you’re flirting, sorry.” Bim went over to the other side of Yandere, who was giggling. 

“So, I’m not explaining to Robbie what the bumps and groans in the middle of the night are,” Anti said with a laugh. “Although, I’m sure Chase has had to tell him about that a few times.” 

“What can I say? I’m a man of many talents.” Chase said through his headset, not yet able to see the others yet. 

“Maybe you could show me a few tricks,” Anti spoke in a sultry voice and Dark stiffened, coughing into his hand to hide his face. 

“Can we please focus?” Dark asked. The usual twinge in his stomach stronger than before. He really needed to talk to Dr. Iplier.

“You are nearing the warehouse,” Chase said, looking at a monitor with red dots heading towards a basic blueprint. “Google, on my signal, turn off the camera from their end.” Dark fought the urge to snap at Chase for giving an order to Google, but nothing would work if he argued with Chase the entire mission. “There are three men at the very front room. I need you to take them out silently. Chase said, glancing at several other monitors that allowed him to see into the warehouse. After you go in, there are two more in the room to the left, which is the security room and three in the one to the right. The very back room has the mob boss and five guards. Do I need to repeat?” 

“All clear,” Marvin said. 

“Google, go.” Chase waved a hand towards Google as he watched one of the screens. There was a pause before the two men on the screen perked up and started pressing keys, looking as if they were yelling at each other. “It’s a go. I repeat. Go!” 

Jackie ran up to the front door of the warehouse and tore it open. Anti quickly leaped into the room with two knives in his hands, easily taking out two of the men, Wilford was right next to him and he fired a gun with a silencer, killing the third one. Wilford gave Anti a smirk and shimmied a little, making a little yelp when he was suddenly spun around by JJ. He felt the guns in his back holsters being pulled out and the two men who ran out of the security room were easily shot by JJ, who straightened up from his position and blew into the barrel of one of the guns. 

“Earth to Wilford,” Marvin said, snapping his fingers in front of Wilford’s face. 

“You can fuck him later, bubblegum,” Anti said, pulling his knives out of the two men he had killed. Dark found himself staring. Anti’s back was towards the camera, and his upper half was turned towards the other, the knives in his hands were dripping with blood. It was…

Dark shook his head. 

“The three from the right room are coming in. Yandere, move!” Chase called. 

“What’s going on here!” One of the men shouted as he kicked open the door. 

“Yandere, snap!” Dark ordered, the moment he finished his word, Yandere’s eyes went wide and a large smirk grew on her face. 

“Back, back, back!” Bim shouted when Yandere started laughing. 

“What the fu-” The first man didn’t get to finish talking before Yandere pulled out her katana and sliced off his head, blood splattering on Yandere’s face.

“Fuck yeah!” Anti cheered. Yandere kicked the now headless man down and used his chest to launch herself towards the second man and she stabbed him straight through his chest. She easily pulled her katana back out and before the third man could even react, his head was gone as well. 

“Calm. Calm, Yandere, calm.” Dark said and that’s when Yandere started laughing again, dropping her katana and holding her face. Eventually, she stopped and her hands dropped, eyes glazed over and looking at nothing. 

“Go on ahead, I got her,” Bim said, going over to Yandere. 

“Finish the mission,” Chase said when the Septiceyes were about to question. “Looks like we’ve discovered the second secret,” Chase added to Dark. “I’ll be nice and make us even again.” Chase watched as the group went towards the final door. “They’re ready for you. JJ, do your thing and get in there first and distract them.” JJ nodded his head before clapping his hands and suddenly going invisible. 

“What!?” Dark called out in shock. 

“He’s a sneaky boy.” Chase chuckled. JJ went to the door and opened it just enough for him to slip in. 

“They’re coming in!” A voice shouted from behind the door. 

“Get-what the hell!?” A second voice shouted. 

“Boss! Your chair! It’s floating!” A third cried. 

“Go!” Chase ordered and Marvin was the first to run into the room. He threw an arm towards one of the guards and a blade came out of it, flying and stabbing into the man’s shoulder, forcing him to drop his gun. Marvin dropped himself and allowed Anti to use him to jump up higher and stab two knives down into the guard’s head. Jackie easily dodged several gunshots from another guard and when he reached him, he grabbed his head and snapped the man’s neck, letting him fall to the ground, lifeless. Wilford fired his own guns and took out two more men and when he went to get the third, the man collapsed after getting shot by someone on his side, JJ reappeared and gave Wilford a smile. 

“Where is he!?” Everyone stopped and looked over when they heard Anti scream. “Tell me where he is!” Anti demanded, holding the leader by the collar of his shirt and shaking him. 

“Who?” The leader asked with a strained voice. 

“You know who I’m talking about!” Anti tightened his grip. “Where is Micah!?” 

“He’s at the house.” The leader answered with a laugh. “You know the one. The one you’d take my daughter to and fuck her. Because that’s all you do. That’s all your good for. You’re just something to-” The man stopped talking when Anti took one of his knives and stabbed him between the eyes. 

“Anti, we’re going back to headquarters,” Chase said. “Anti, back to HQ.” Anti didn’t move, he just stared at the dead man. “Anti. Anti!” Chase shouted when Anti started walking away. “Go back to HQ with the others! Anti, respond to me! Anti! You can’t go out on your own! Anti! God damn it!” Chase punched the control panel.  

“If you don’t want him to go, just have Jackie grab him,” Dark said. 

“It doesn’t work like that,” Chase stated. “Everyone else, back to headquarters. We’ll have to wait for Anti.” Chase pressed a few keys as Dark watched the Septiceyes on the monitor share a look and started leaving. 

“Go with them,” Dark said to Wilford. “Get Yandere back here.” 

“Okay,” Wilford said.

“Don’t do anything too stupid Anti,” Chase said before hearing a little static pop, telling him that Anti was no longer online. 


	9. Jealous

“She was trained at a very young age before she was...she.” Dark said from his seat, Chase sitting in the chair next to him. Yandere was on the couch with Bim, sleeping with her head on Bim’s shoulder and Bim’s face was a bright red. Wilford tussled Bim’s hair as he passed behind the couch and he went over to JJ, who was sitting on a loveseat. Dr. Iplier was talking to Henrik and explaining Yandere’s condition as well. Marvin was with Robbie, telling him that Anti would be back later and that he wasn’t going to be feeling good when he did. Jackie and Host were just sitting while Bing and Google tried their best to see if they could locate Anti. “She was kicked out when her father saw that she had stolen her sister’s school uniform and we’ve made several copies of the outfit since it’s the most comforting thing for her ever since her family disowned her.” Dark kept talking, taking a sip from his glass of wine. “I found her sitting on the side of the road, dirty, crying and covered in blood. Something about the look in her eyes told me that she would be perfect for my group, so I offered her a deal she couldn’t refuse.” 

“And what was that?” Chase asked.

“Acceptance.” Dark said, taking another sip. 

“That’s all anyone wants.” Chase looked over at Marvin, who was adjusting his mask. 

“So, do I get to know who Micah is?” Dark asked. 

“It’s a long story.” Chase sighed. 

“We’re not really doing anything at the moment.” Dark said. “I told you about Yandere, it seems fair you tell me who Micah is.” 

“He’s one of Anti’s exs.” Chase said. “And he wasn’t a good one.” 

“Sounds like none of them were.” 

“He was the first and the worse.” Chase rubbed his face. “He made Anti feel like he was nothing. That he was weak when Anti is easily a lot stronger than Micah. It happened before I found Anti, but he told me everything. Everything…” Chase chewed at his lip. “I don’t know what Anti is about to do will be great or terrible for him. I don’t want him to get hurt.” Dark just took a big gulp from his glass, finishing off his drink. The room went silent when the door opened at Anti walked in. 

Anti’s eyes were blank and he was staring ahead at nothing, body covered in blood. His hair was spiked up and clumpy from the blood, his clothes were ripped and torn and the blood on his face had streams in them, showing that Anti had been crying. He slowly kept walking, the knife in his hand was dripping blood as well and was on the verge of being dropped. 

“Just stay back.” Marvin told the Ipliers. “Trust me.” 

“Is he injured?” Dr. Iplier asked, seeing that Henrik was shaking his head. 

What happened?” Dark asked, getting up from his seat and heading over to Anti, not expecting Anti to shove him away. 

“Move or you’re next.” Anti growled. 

“What happened.” Dark repeated instead. 

“None of your business!” Anti shouted, holding his knife up and aiming it at Dark’s throat. “He’s gone. He’s gone and that’s all that matters...he’s gone...he’s…” Anti’s hand started to tremble. “I killed him.” Anti whispered. “I killed him. I killed him and he said I couldn’t do it.” Anti started to laugh. “He said I was weak. That I was pathetic. That I was too scared to do anything. That I was just something to fuck!” Anti was now shouting. “He knew I was stronger than him, he knew what I was and he made me feel like fucking garbage, that I wasn’t good for anything but sex!” Anti blinked and a tear rolled down his face. “I was just a mouth and a hole to him! That’s all I was! I was nothing else and he told me I would never be any more than that!” Anti dropped the knife when his arm went down as well. “That’s all anyone ever wants me for.” Anti’s voice was now soft, cracking at the end of his sentence. “I’m just something to be used…” 

“It’s okay, Anti.” Chase wrapped his arms around Anti and that was when he fully broke down. Anti started to sob loudly and he curled up against Chase’s chest. “Let it out, it’s okay, just let it out.” Chase said, rubbing a hand on Anti’s back while Anti continued to cry. 

Dark was stunned. He was frozen in place. There was a strong nausea making his stomach churn. He hated the sight of Anti crying like that. He wanted to help him stop. It hurt him to see Anti in so much pain. What was happening to him? Why was he feeling like this? Why did he have such a strong urge to put Anti in his arms? To say soothing things to him? To make him feel better? Dark took a step back before taking off. 

“Dark?” Wilford quickly got up and he and Dr. Iplier went after Dark. “Dark? Dark, what’s up?” Wilford asked when they found Dark in the room they had claimed. 

“I think I’m getting sick.” Dark said, pacing the room. “My stomach hurt, my chest is warm and I feel like I should cry.” Dark took his hands and started to rub his upper arms. “Every time I see Anti and Chase close together, I feel the urge to vomit, I get angry and I don’t know why.” Dr. Iplier and Wilford shared a look. “And now whenever I see Bing and Google doing something or you and JJ or you and Henrik, I feel the same urge. What is happening to me?” Dark asked. 

“I got this, Edward.” Wilford said. Dr. Iplier nodded his head and walked away. 

“He needs to check on me, I think I’m-”

“Jealous.” Wilford cut Dark off. 

“What?” 

“You’re jealous, Dark.” Wilford went over to Dark and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Do you feel a warmth when you’re near Anti? Like little butterflies in your stomach? Does your face heat up? Do your thoughts wander?” 

“Yeah…” Dark answered softly. 

“Dark, you’re crushing on Anti.” Wilford’s statement made Dark’s eyes go wide. 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Dark slapped Wilford’s hands away. “I don’t get ‘crushes’.” 

“Why do you keep thinking that you don’t have emotions?” Wilford asked. 

“Because I don’t.” 

“Bullshit!” Wilford snapped. “You get angry, you get sad, you get annoyed, you care for me and the others, you have emotions and you can feel love, damn it!” There was a long pause between the two. 

“Even if I did feel love, who would ever love me back?” Dark said before leaving the room. 

“Dark…” Wilford sighed.


	10. Dreams

Dark headed back for the control room and saw that it was only Anti, Chase, and Marvin in there. Chase and Anti were on the couch while Marvin stood next to them. Anti watched Chase’s hands as he used a wet rag to clean the blood from his arms. 

“Is that all that happened?” Marvin asked, using a rag himself to get some of the clumps out of Anti’s hair. 

“Yeah,” Anti answered in a soft voice. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” Chase said, placing his hand on Anti’s chin to get him to look up at him. “What he did to you was a shitty thing. He had it coming.” 

“But-”

“He had it coming,” Chase repeated, letting go of Anti’s face and continuing to clean. “I just wish I was there to prevent it from happening.”

“We didn’t know who Anti was back then. Hell, Anti didn’t even know who he was back then.” Marvin huffed, hands moving harsher and faster. “Micah fucking knew that and took advantage of him. Anti didn’t even know what the hell sex was and went with it cause Micah said it’d feel good.” 

“Ow.” Anti flinched when Marvin pulled a little too hard on a strand. 

“Mom, dad hurt me.” Anti held out the words in a long whine. 

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” Chase asked with a chuckle, his question causing the twinge in Dark’s stomach to come back and he heard Wilford walk up behind him. Was it really jealousy? Dark didn’t get jealous. That was a waste of time and not worth his effort. He already had everything he could need, why would seeing Anti with someone else cause this? 

A crush?

No.

No, he doesn’t crush.

He doesn’t love.

“Gross.” Anti stuck out his tongue. 

“I’m glad to see you’re already feeling a little better,” Chase said, getting a small smile from Anti. “Now, after we’re done, go take a shower and charge, you’ve had a day.” 

“Am I grounded?” Anti asked. 

“No. But you’ll be grounded for the rest of your existence if you ever run away like that again.” Chase warned, holding a finger in front of Anti’s face. 

“And not just grounded. Extra-grounded.” Marvin added. 

“Anything but extra-grounded.” Anti teased, nuzzling his head up so he’d end up getting blood on Marvin’s shirt. 

“Anti!” Marvin yelped. 

“Now you’re grounded,” Chase said, poking Anti’s forehead. “Go shower.” Anti giggled a little and got up walking around the couch and stopping when he saw Dark. Anti looked down and rubbed one of his arms, remembering what he had last said to him. Dark found himself walking up to Anti, something in him was telling him that he had to something, anything. He hated that feeling of standing there and doing nothing and he felt as if he had to-

Before Dark could finish his thought, he was wrapping his arms around Anti and pulling him into a hug. Anti went stiff at first, not sure how to react but eventually his body relaxed and he allowed himself to be held for that moment before Dark let go. Dark just stood there for a moment before nodding his head and walking away. 

“Dark, get back here!” Wilford shouted and ran after Dark. Anti blinked a few times before looking behind him and seeing that Marvin and Chase were talking to each other in whispers. Anti shook his head and kept on, heading to one of the bathrooms. 

He slipped off his clothes and stepped into the hot shower, seeing the water that was going down the drain was red. He probably looked like Christmas with all that green and red. Anti’s hand went to his neck, feeling the thick scar there, maybe he should have disguised that as well when he first met the Ipliers. Although Host did have a bloody bandage around his eyes, so it probably not as off-putting to see that. Anti scratched at his ears and ran his tongue over his teeth. Those on the other hand, he definitely needed to keep hidden. They would never understand.

Dark would never understand.

x~x~x

The room was dark, silent and everyone in the building was asleep. Dark opened his eyes and found that he was alone, although, he wasn’t alone for long.

“Darky?” Dark looked over at the door and saw that Anti was there. 

“Anti? Do you need something?” Dark asked, sitting up as Anti stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, the lighting not changing at all. 

“You,” Anti stated, walking over to the bed. 

“What?” Dark found that there were no longer covers on him or the bed. 

“I want you, Darky.” Anti climbed up on the bed and crawled over to Dark. “I need you, Darky.” Anti was now sitting on Dark’s lap, hands on his chest. “Please, Darky, please.” Anti pleaded as a whisper into Dark’s ear. Dark’s hands went to Anti’s hips, thumbs running little circles on them. “Make the pain go away, Darky. Make me feel better. Make me feel good.” Anti placed his face into the crook of Dark’s neck. “Please, please.” 

“Okay.” Dark whispered back, getting Anti to lift his head. Dark took his hands from Anti’s hips and placed them on his cheek, pulling him down towards him, their lips only inches apart and they-

Anti woke with a yelp. He tried to get out of his bed quickly and ended up tripping over the wires in his room. Anti was now laying on the floor of his bedroom, the computer beeping from a malfunction occurring and the lights in his room were dead. 

Anti gasped for air as his heart raced and his thoughts went even faster than that. He eventually caught up to what was going on in his mind and he placed his hands over his face, letting out a loud groan. 

“You have to be kidding me!?” 


	11. Stubborn

Anti sat at the kitchen table with a carton of chocolate ice cream in front of him and a spoon in his mouth. He got another spoonful of ice cream as he stared at his phone, the next episode of the Netflix show he was watching began, the opening theme playing again. 

“Ant?” Robbie asked, stepping into the dimly lit room. “Why are you up?” 

“I was gonna ask you the same thing.” Anti lightly chuckled, gesturing for Robbie to join him. “What’s got you out of bed, Robocop?” He asked as Robbie sat in the chair next to him. 

“The dream,” Robbie answered, hand going to his throat. “It still hurts.” 

“It’s okay, buddy.” Anti wrapped an arm around Robbie’s shoulders and rubbed one of them. “We’re here for ya and you’re a lot stronger than you were back then.” 

“I’m scary strong,” Robbie said in a whisper. 

“Terrifying,” Anti confirmed. “How about you join me for some ice cream and Netflix?” Robbie perked up a little and nodded his head. Anti took his phone and touched the screen a few times. “Go pick out what you want in the living room, I’ll get you a spoon,” Anti said and watched with a small smile as Robbie smiled himself and left the room. Anti sighed as he got up and went over to the silverware drawer, at least this would get his mind off of his own problem. 

“Why are you up?” Robbie asked again the moment Anti came into the room. 

“I had a dream too,” Anti answered honestly.

“What was it about?” So much for getting his mind off of it. 

“Nothing too big.” Anti sat down with Robbie, seeing that the television was fully raised and on. Robbie just made a face. “It was about someone and I’m confused about it,” Anti admitted.

“Who was it about?” Robbie asked. Anti chewed the inside of his cheek before answering in a soft voice. 

“Dark.” 

“Dark?” Robbie tilted his head and saw that there was a little pink to Anti’s cheeks. “Do you like Dark?” Robbie asked after making a little gasp. 

“What? No.” Anti protested, face starting to go red. 

“Do you wanna kiss him?” Robbie asked, pressing his hands to his cheeks. 

“No!” Anti got himself some ice cream and stuck the spoon in his mouth. 

“Ant has a crush~” Robbie sang with a giggle. 

“No, I don’t,” Anti said with a full mouth. 

“Was the dream about you holding hands? Or cuddling? Or-” Robbie placed his hands on his mouth before leaning a little to ask very quietly. “-did you dream about kissing him?” Anti didn’t say anything and Robbie squealed. “That’s so dirty.” Anti still didn’t say anything, he was not going to let Robbie know about  _ that  _ part of the dream. “I can go get Mr. Dark.” Robbie offered,  getting up

“No!” Anti wrapped his arms around Robbie and pulled him back down. “You can’t tell him or anyone, okay?” 

“Why not?” 

“Because I’m still unsure about how I feel,” Anti said and Robbie could see the fear in Anti’s eyes. 

“I won’t tell. Promise.” Robbie held up his hand, his pinkie sticking out. 

“Thank you.” Anti took the pinkie with his own and shook their hands. 

“You wanna kiss Mr. Dark.” Robbie giggled. 

“Shut up.” Anti pushed Robbie to his back and started scratching at his sides. 

“A-Ant!” Robbie squealed, laughing as he was tickled. 

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t quite hear you.” Anti teased as Robbie continued to laugh. 

x~x~x

Dark stepped out of his room, having not been able to sleep well throughout the night and giving up. He figured he could get himself up and ready and start a search for new jobs and a place to remake their headquarters. 

He stopped when he heard music, was someone else awake as well? 

Dark went into the control room and found Anti and Robbie curled up together on the couch and sleeping. There was a television Dark didn’t know they even had, playing the ending credits to a movie. 

There was a strong warmth in Dark’s chest as he watched the two sleep, they were peaceful like this. Dark ended up heading over to the control panel and he crouched down, remembering where the extra blankets were from when Chase had gotten them. He pulled out the box and took a blanket out, seeing the box that held the earpieces and he paused when he saw a briefcase. There were fingerprint locks on it and a quick knock to the top of it told Dark that it was made of a strong metal. What was in there? 

Dark decided to let it go, that would be a question for another day and he went back over to the couch. He placed the blanket over Robbie and Anti and made sure they were both fully covered. Dark took his hand and gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind Anti’s ear so it was no longer over his eye and his hand lingered there. Dark caught what he was doing and he stepped away, heading over to the television, finding the power button on the side and soon made the room go silent, the light from the kitchen allowing Dark to just barely see. 

“Thank you, Mr. Dark.” Dark turned at Robbie’s voice and saw the man nuzzling into Anti and holding the blanket tighter to himself. Anti just mumbled under his breath, showing that he was still asleep. Dark just lowered his head and went towards the kitchen, catching a flash of pink in the corner of his eye. 

“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Dark asked when he reached the tea kettle. 

“Shouldn’t you?” Wilford asked back. 

“You know I don’t sleep much,” Dark stated. 

“As do I,” Wilford stated back and there was a long pause between the two as Dark prepped some tea. “Dark.” No response. “Dark, I’m your best friend.” 

“You are,” Dark said softly. 

“That means I know you very well.” Wilford went over to Dark and placed a hand on his shoulder. “And I know when you’re being too stubborn for your own good.” 

“I’m being reasonable,” Dark said. “I know how people see me and if he ever discovered who I actually am…” Dark let out a sigh. “He’d run for the hills.” 

“How do you know that?” Wilford asked. 

“Who wouldn’t?” Dark cracked his neck. “Who wouldn’t run from this?” 

“I’m not,” Wilford said. “Neither is Host or Yandere or Bim or Edward or Bing or Google.”

“Edward is the only normal one of us,” Dark said. 

“Since when was Edward normal? He works with us, none of us are normal.” Wilford chuckled. “And the Speticeyes aren’t normal either. Jackie with his powers, JJ can go invisible, who knows what else they’re hiding?”

“Emotions are weird,” Dark mumbled. 

“You get used to it.” Wilford laughed.


	12. Flesh

“Hey, Yan.” Bim greeted, swallowing thickly as he went up to Yandere, who was sharpening her katana.

“Yeah?” Yandere asked, pausing her hand and looking up at Bim. 

“I was wondering if...since we don’t have any missions at the moment. I-If you...uh...if you wanted to-”

“We have a job!” Chase shouted, walking into the room with Marvin and catching everyone’s attention. 

“Nevermind,” Bim said quickly before heading over to Host and Dr. Iplier leaving Yandere to make an annoyed face at him.

“You could always ask him out?” Wilford suggested. 

“I know.” Yandere held out the word. “But he’s a man and you know how men are with their pride.” 

“You’re right.” Wilford huffed, Yandere not seeing that Wilford was looking at Dark. “Let’s see what this is all about.” 

“May I?” Dark asked, gesturing towards the paper Chase was holding. Chase smiled and handed Dark the paper, rolling his eyes when Marvin grumbled something under his breath. Wilford read over Dark’s shoulder when he reached him. 

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Wilford asked. 

“I assume so,” Dark replied before he gave the paper back to Chase. “Might I make a suggestion?” 

“Throw it at me.” Chase shrugged. 

“By the sounds of it, they’re going after young couples with or expecting children.” Dark started. “And I believe that sending Yandere and Bim together would result in the best outcome.” 

“We could stuff a pillow up Yan-Yan’s shirt to make her look pregnant,” Wilford said, using his hands to mimic the shape of a belly bump on himself.

“We could buy one of those fake baby bellies instead of stuffing me.” Yandere said while Bim was too busy coughing into his hand to hide the blush on his face. Chase and Marvin both shared a look before nodding.

“Hey, Robbie?” Chase asked.

“Yeah?” Robbie perked up at the sound of his name. 

“Do you want to show the Ipliers your trick?” 

“Okay!” Robbie giggled before snapping both of his fingers and shrinking

“He’s so cute!” Yandere squealed when Robbie was now a small child. 

“Ta-da~” Robbie sang. 

“But I still like the idea of making Yandere look pregnant,” Chase said. “It’ll make them want them to stick around so they can get the kid in her too.” 

“He actually is a child,” Dark said softly to himself. 

“What even is the job?” Anti asked, leaning an elbow on Chase’s shoulder to read from the paper. “A child-ring disguised as a daycare?” 

“By the sounds of it, it’s a big ring. We’ll just be taking done one of the parts since that’s the one who took the client’s child.” Marvin stated. “We could probably get a decent reward from the government if we can find the other locations.” 

“Even if we don’t. We’re doing it anyway. It takes a real kind of fuck-up to mess with children.” Chase’s voice strained a little, something Dark caught. 

“Do you have children?” Dark asked bluntly. 

“I did.” Was all Chase said before turning away and heading for the control panel. Dark was tempted to ask more but figured it’d be best to let it drop. 

“Let’s get everything set up.” He said instead. 

x~x~x

“You look adorable.” Yandere giggled as Robbie sat on Bim’s shoulders, gently playing with his hair. 

“My face itches,” Bim said in response, wiggling his nose and feeling the prosthetic move. “This feels weird.” 

“How do you think I feel? I have ten pounds of fluff on my stomach.” Yandere said, patting her fake baby bump. “This does not help my self-esteem.” 

“I think you look beautiful no matter what,” Bim said, stiffening when he realized he said that out loud. 

“Really?” Yandere asked in a soft voice, her own cheeks flushing a little. 

“I...uh…”

“Can you feel the love tonight~” Wilford’s voice sang loudly into their ears. 

“Wilford, let go!” Dark huffed, pushing Wilford away from him. Anti was laughing loudly from his spot on the couch before getting up and running over, grabbing Chase’s headset. 

“Kiss, kiss, kiss!” He chanted into it, Chase joining him. 

“Looks like Robbie isn’t the only child here.” Dark grumbled. 

“You know it’s cute,” Wilford said, wiggling his eyebrows. Dark just placed a hand on Wilford’s face and moved him away again. “Bim, Yandere, you’re nearing the building, you know what to do, right?” 

“Yep.” Bim and Yandere said together. 

“Bim’s going to bite your ass for making him wear that stuff.” Wilford chuckled in a whisper.

“It’s easier to explain prosthetics than what we usually do.” Dark whispered back. 

“Hello! We’re here for our four o’clock appointment.” Bim said to the man behind the desk. 

“We don’t have an appointment at four.” The man stated back, tensing up. Bim just kept smiling before blinking, his eyes starting to show a little bit of a blue glow to them.

“We’re here for our four o’clock appointment,” Bim repeated, voice dropping in pitch a little. 

“I’ll let Kalvin know you’re here.” The man stood up and walked away. 

“Hypnotism?” Chase asked and Dark just nodded. “Nice.”

“I can see why he’s your ‘social’ expert.” Marvin chuckled. 

“The chip is in,” Bim said, having gone around the desk and placing a USB into the laptop that was there. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” The man from before shouted when he came back in, two other men with him. “Grab the bitch and the kid.” The man ordered and went over to Bim, grabbing him by the arm. “Kalvin has a few words for you.” 

“Robbie, start crying,” Chase ordered and Robbie started to sob on cue. 

“Shut up, kid.” One of the other men scoffed and picked Robbie up by the back of his shirt. 

“Be careful with him!” Yandere cried, ‘struggling’ against the third man’s grip. 

“Good actors.” Chase complimented. 

“Robbie being able to cry on command is impressive.” Dark complimented back. 

“Are you two going to need a room?” Marvin asked, crossing his arms and looking unamused while Anti giggled. 

“Let me guess, you’re friends with Sheila?” A man, who they knew was Kalvin, said when they were brought into the room. “I told her to pay her fees or she loses the kid.” He added with a shrug. "You'd think you would be smart enough to not bring a pregnant woman, although she could come in handy." 

“Robbie, start screaming,” Chase said, smirking when Robbie did what he was told. 

“Shut him up,” Kalvin ordered and Yandere and Bim both shouted when the man holding Robbie cuffed him upside the head, causing Robbie to scream even more and louder. 

“Now I don’t feel sorry for what’s going to happen,” Chase said, hand gripping into a tight fist. They weren’t supposed to hit him. He had assumed they would tape his mouth shut since the paperwork said they favored doing that. That would have been enough to get him mad. 

“I said, shut him up!” Kalvin snapped. 

“Fine!” The man snapped back and wrapped his hands around Robbie’s throat. 

“Oh shit.” Chase cursed, seeing Robbie kicking out his legs and tears streaming down his face.

“Help Robbie!” Dark shouted. “Get him-” Dark stopped when the man that was holding Robbie screamed. Robbie’s eyes had gone fully black and he had his nails digging into the man’s flesh, blood seeping. 

“What the fuck!?” The man shouted and dropped Robbie. “What the fuck!?” He shouted again when Robbie grew back into full size, drool dripping from his mouth. Robbie let out a snarl before jumping on the man, knocking him over and biting into his neck, tearing out his throat with no problem. 

“What!?” The Ipliers all shouted with shock. 

“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Kalvin ordered, taking out his own gun. Robbie glared at Kalvin and ran over to him, the bullet went through his shoulder as if nothing had happened. “Get him off of-ah!” Kalvin screamed when Robbie bit his shoulder, tearing off a chunk of flesh as well and he clawed at his face. “Help! Help!” 

Bim used the moment to swing his head back and smash it into the man’s face, getting him to let go. Bim pulled a knife out of the back of his pants and stabbed at the man’s neck, turning and seeing that the other was pushing Yandere to the ground. 

“Stay do-” The man didn’t even get to finish his word before Bim slit his throat, blood spraying his face a little.

“Never push a lady,” Bim said harshly, licking at the blood that slid down to his lips. “Yan, are you-” Bim stiffened when Yandere suddenly grabbed him and pulled him in for a kiss. 

“When you two are done making out on top of corpses, can you get Robbie?” Chase said. Bim and Yandere both parted, faces bright red. 

“Sorry,” Bim mumbled. 

“Robbie? Robbie, are you okay?” Yandere clipped off her fake stomach as she walked over to Robbie, seeing that he was sitting on the floor and crying. 

“It hurts! It hurts!” Robbie bawled, blood coating his entire body as Kalvin looked like a pile of mush in front of him. “My neck!” 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s all okay. We’re here, you’re safe now, it’s fine.” Yandere said in a kind voice, hugging Robbie to her chest. “It’s all okay now.” 

“Chase? What was that?” Dark asked. 

“He was like a zombie, dude,” Bing commented. 

“He is,” Chase stated, his own eyes tearing up. 


	13. Family

“He was five when it happened.” Chase started, laying on the couch with a, still blood-covered, Robbie sleeping against his chest. Henrik was able to stitch up the bullet hole in his shoulder when Yandere and Bim returned with Robbie. “He was just a kid.” Chase’s voice cracked a little and he hugged Robbie. 

“His parents were lovely and smart people but the rest of the town...wasn’t.” Henrik continued and sighed. “They thought he was weird, they thought he was cursed by the devil.”

“He has a birthmark.” Chase let out a scoff. “It’s just a birthmark.” Dark watched as Anti came back in with a bucket of warm, soapy water and some washcloths. 

“The town didn’t want a ‘devil-child’ around, so they took him in the middle of the night and hung him.” Henrik shook his head. “He still has nightmares about it, he can feel it as if it was happening all over again.”

“Please tell me you did something to those assholes.” Yandere said. “To hang a child...it’s…” Yandere sniffed and blinked away her tears. 

“Hey, Robbie,” Anti said in a soft voice, gently shaking Robbie awake. 

“Ant?” Robbie hummed. 

“We’re gonna clean you up, okay?” Anti brushed some of Robbie’s hair out of his eyes. 

“Okay.” Robbie nodded his head before placing it back down on Chase’s chest. 

“They’ve been dead for a long time,” Henrik said. “It was back in the eighteen-hundreds.” 

“The...what?” Dark raised both brows. 

“Robbie’s been dead for a long time and then, we’re not sure how it happened, but he was brought back to life and his body was buried outside of this building,” Marvin said. 

“It was something to wake up to in the middle of the night,” Chase said. 

“His mentality is that of a young child but his intelligence is that of an adult, hence why his natural form is an adult but he has the ability to become physically younger. He still eats, drinks and sleeps like a living being but he doesn’t have to in order to survive.” Henrik scratched his chin. “I’ve been studying him for years and I still don’t understand most of his functions. You should see him to a sudoku puzzle though, he goes through them in a snap.” Henrik snapped his fingers when he said the word. “He’s still technically a child. His mind won’t age so he’s forever in the mindset of a five-year-old.” 

“So, you guys just took in a zombie?” Bim asked. 

“We didn’t really know he was a zombie at first,” Marvin said, heading over to help Chase adjust Robbie so Anti could continue cleaning him. 

“Robbie knocked on the door and all we saw was a young man, covered in dirt and crying his eyes out,” Jackie said, patting Marvin on the shoulder to tell him that he’d take over, having a much easier time moving Robbie’s limp body since he had dozed off again. 

“He didn’t talk and we just wanted to make sure he was okay so we had Henrik look him over.” Marvin continued. 

“And that was when we learned he was dead,” Henrik said. “No heartbeat, no blood pulsing, just a body with a brain.” 

“You adopted him,” Google stated. 

“Basically, yes.” Henrik shrugged. 

“We weren’t just going to let him go out into a world that would kill him on sight,” Chase said. “He’s just a kid.” 

“A kid that can turn a man into a pile of blood and bones,” Dark said. 

“We all have our strengths,” Anti said, not looking up from Robbie’s arm. “And our secrets.” He added in a softer tone. 

“I know that this is only your third day here, but by now you know that Robbie isn’t a danger to us,” Marvin said. 

“ _ R-O-B-B-I-E. Dead. But.”  _ JJ pointed at Robbie. “ _ Family.”  _

“Robbie might be dead but he is family.” Wilford translated to Dark.

“We all know sign language, Wilford,” Dark stated. 

“I know.” Was all Wilford said before going to Bim and Yandere, already beginning to tease the two.

“Bing, Google, have you finished going through the laptop’s files yet?” Dark called out, heading over to the two men that were sitting on the love seat. 

“Working on the last piece that needs to be deciphered, but we can print off what we have so far and you can go over them.” Bing offered, pressing a few more keys. 

“Thank you.” Dark held his hands behind his back and headed over to the nearby printer when he heard it go off. 

“Are you still going to work?” Anti asked. 

“Our job isn’t complete,” Dark stated, picking up the warm pages. 

“You can take a break,” Anti stated back. 

“Taking a break doesn’t get you paid.” Dark walked off. Anti scrunched up his face and dropped his washcloth, getting up and following Dark while Wilford just groaned and placed his hands over his face in annoyance. 

“Would you take that damn stick out of your ass!?” Anti snapped, getting Dark to stop and turn to face him. 

“That ‘stick in my ass’ is what keeps money in our pockets and us alive,” Dark said. 

“Could you two not fight?” Chase hissed, seeing that Robbie was mumbling, the yelling waking him up a little. 

“We take breaks and we’re alive and well-off!” Anti protested. 

“How that’s possible, I’ll never know.” Dark huffed. 

“We’re the ones with our headquarters still!” 

“You’re the reason ours is nothing but ash!” Dark raised his voice, matching Anti’s volume. “Your endless number of exs caused it to be burned down!” 

“Go suck a dick!” Anti shouted.

“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you!?” The slap across Dark’s face echoed in the silent room. 

“Fuck you,” Anti said harshly before storming off. Dark stood where he was, hand on his cheek, stunned at the reaction and the fact of how much that strike had hurt. As if he was hit by an electric shock. 

“I’m going to hit him with a fucking newspaper, I swear,” Wilford grumbled under his breath.


	14. A Rare Apology

Dark sat at the desk inside of his and Wilford’s room, trying to read over the paperwork but struggling to concentrate. He felt nauseous. It was a stronger nausea than what Wilford claimed was jealousy. He felt terrible. What he said rang in his head over and over again and that look on Anti’s face made his chest ache. What was happening to him now? 

“Feeling guilty?” Wilford asked, leaning against the doorframe. “And don’t pull the ‘I don’t get guilty’, it’s all over your face.” Dark just sighed and rubbed his temple, he couldn’t tell if he wanted to scream or throw up. “He’s in his room,” Wilford said before walking away with JJ following. Dark chewed at his lip for a moment and eventually got up. He slowly walked over to Anti’s room, knowing that it was his since Robbie had made name tags for everyone’s door. Dark remembered seeing Robbie working on Host’s door tag earlier this morning. Dark took a deep breath before knocking on the wooden surface, swallowing as he waited for a response. 

“I’m fine, Chase.” Anti huffed from behind the door, the name causing that twinge to return. Why did that cause the ‘jealousy’ to occur? Dark didn’t know what to say, so he just knocked again. “I told you I’m-” Anti stopped when he opened the door and saw Dark. He scrunched his brows and closed the door. Dark caught it before it shut completely in his face and he stepped into the room. 

“Anti, I came here to talk,” Dark stated. 

“Why? So you can insult my family more?” Anti pulled several knives out of the wall that had a target taped to it. “So you can insult me more.” 

“I may have stepped over the line.” 

“May have?” Anti scoffed, tossing one of the knives and hitting the target in the center. “You fucking jumped over the damn line, went back, kicked it and then crossed it again, you fucking twat.” 

“I deserved that,” Dark said after taking a calming breath. “I’m sorry for what I said.” Anti stopped mid-throw when Dark said that. 

“Really?” Anti asked, lowering his arm. 

“Yes. I consider myself a man of manners and respect and what I said was rude and disrespectful given the knowledge that I have.” Dark stated. “I should have thought before I spoke and not allowed my emotions to cloud my judgment.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with emotions,” Anti said, poking at the tip of his knife. 

“So I’ve been told,” Dark mumbled. 

“You’re forgiven.” Anti tossed a knife to the target, getting it to go right above the first one. “Chase would scold me if I didn’t.” He added with a little chuckle. 

“You seem very close to Chase,” Dark said before he could stop himself.  

“He’s a good guy. He cares for all of us.” Anti tossed another knife, this one going right under the first. 

“And you care for him.” 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Anti’s smile at that comment made Dark’s twinge worsen. Why was ‘jealousy’ making him ache like this? “If you want to make it up to me properly, you can make dinner.” Anti said with a giggle, the twinge now becoming the warmth Wilford tried to tell him was a ‘crush’. 

“That I can do.” Dark chuckled and Anti felt his own warmth in his chest. 

“I...I can help, if you want.” Anti offered. “At least with the tea for us, you said yourself that I make some bomb-ass tea.” 

“I don’t think that was my exact wording.” Dark laughed a little. 

“I can read between the lines.” Anti laughed as well. Anti saw over Dark’s shoulder that Robbie was walking by, looking a lot perkier already and when Robbie noticed that Dark was in Anti’s room, he started to make his hands ‘kiss’. “Robbie!” Anti shouted and ran past Dark, chasing, a now squealing, Robbie down the hall. Dark had peeked his head out of the room and watched the two go, a smile forming on his face. Dark allowed himself to enjoy that warm feeling in his chest, it was pleasant, confusing, but pleasant. It sent little happy pulses through his body, adding a little pep to his step as he headed for the kitchen.

“Someone seems happy to be making dinner.” Chase chuckled when Dark entered the kitchen. 

“He’s excited for my tea.” Anti giggled. Dark raised a brow and looked over his shoulder. How did Anti beat him here? Perhaps there was a shortcut in the building he was unaware of. “Ya feelin fruity or herby, tonight?” Anti asked, looking at his large collection of tea. 

“He’s always fruity.” Wilford laughed loudly, slapping Dark on the shoulder. “And a terrible flirt.” He added in a whisper. 

“Were you watching us?” Dark whispered back. “And I wasn’t flirting.” Wilford just hummed and skipped over to the counter, helping himself to an apple and walking back out of the room. “Apples make you look like an asshole, Wilford!” Dark called after him, clearing his throat in embarrassment when Anti and Chase both started laughing. 

“I figured I’d let you know how the Septiceyes work.” Chase took in a deep breath. “If you plan on doing steak or ribs, it has to be raw for Robbie, rare for Jackie, and JJ, medium for myself and Marvin and practically charred for Anti. Henrik isn’t the biggest fan of beef, so you’ll have to make something chicken or pork for him. Robbie doesn’t like his vegetables so you’ll have to hide them in cheese, but Jackie is lactose intolerant so either you’d have to use vegan cheese or make two vegetable sides, but they’d have to be the same or Robbie will feel left out. JJ has a nut allergy, so no peanut products can be used with anything JJ eats, I have everything labeled that either has lactose or peanuts in it. Any questions?” Chase asked with a large smile while Dark just stared at him. “I also have some lemon squares in the oven if you don’t mind pulling those out when the timer goes off.” 

“Lemon squares? Google’s gonna love you for that.” Anti said with a roll of his eyes.

“Is someone jealous?” Chase teased. 

“Me? Jealous? I don’t even know the meaning of the word.” Anti stuck his nose up. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Chase rubbed his knuckles on top of Anti’s head, earning a little while from Anti while he slapped his hands away and Dark found himself clenching his jaw. “Good luck~” Chase sang and left the kitchen as well. 

“We have chicken patties in the freezer, defrost one for Robbie and toss the others in the oven, cut up some veggies and find all the cheese and you’re good to go,” Anti said with a wink, getting Dark to relax a little. “Don’t let Chase know that I told you, he wanted you to suffer a little.” 

“I think my brain is still spinning from that list.” Dark sighed. 

“You’ll get it eventually.” Anti shrugged. “So...” Anti picked up two boxes of tea. “Fruity oy herb?”

“Surprise me.” Dark chuckled.


	15. Wrong Assumption

“No way!” 

“I did.”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not.” 

“Holy shit, dude!” Anti laughed from his spot on the counter, taking a drink from his mug. “There is no way one of the former presidents called you.” 

“He did.” Dark chuckled as he leaned against the counter, standing next to Anti. 

“What did he want?” Anti asked. 

“I’ve been sworn to secrecy,” Dark said, sipping from his own mug of tea. 

“Come on, please~” Anti sang. “I’ll tell you a secret in return.” He offered. 

“Oh? What could you offer that’s equal to a president’s secret request?” Dark asked.

“How I make my tea so damn delicious,” Anti said with a smirk. 

“Very tempting.” Dark hummed. “Very tempting indeed.” 

“Please.” Anti started nudging Dark’s shoulder with his head. “Please, please, please.” 

“Stop that.” Dark laughed, switching his mug to the other hand. “Stop.” Dark laughed again and poked at Anti’s side, eyebrows raising when Anti yelped and curled up a little. “Are you ticklish?” Dark asked.

“No!” Anti scooted away from Dark a little. 

“Liar.” 

“No!” Anti squealed and placed his mug down, quickly scrambling away but getting caught from behind by Dark. 

“Tell me your tea secret.” Dark started to scratch at Anti’s sides. 

“Ah! No!” Anti squeaked, slapping at Dark’s hands. “D-Dark!” 

“Oh come on~” Dark imitated Anti’s singing, continuing to make Anti laugh. 

“Cheater!” Anti started to squirm. “I’ll never tell!” 

“Then the torture shall never end!” Dark started to laugh himself.

“Ya shite!” Anti cursed between giggles. 

“You started it!” Dark protested. 

“Um-Hum.” The sound of someone clearing their throat made the two stop. “My lemon squares?” Chase asked, pointing at the timer that was ringing. 

“Oh, shit.” Dark quickly went over to the oven and opened it, pulling the tray out to place it on top of the stove. “They’re not burned, we’re good...what?” Dark noticed that Chase and Anti were looking at him. 

“You took a burning hot tray out of the oven with your bare hands,” Chase stated. 

“Metal.” Anti giggled. 

“How did you do that?” Chase asked, heading over to Dark and grabbing his wrist, inspecting his palm and seeing nothing. Dark quickly took his hand back. 

“I-”

“Holy shit!” Bing’s curse from the other room cut Dark’s excuse short and Dark was very thankful for it, he didn’t really have anything planned. 

“What is it?” Chase asked as the three rushed back into the control room. 

“I found them!” Bing cheered. 

“The main headquarters of the child smuggling ring,” Google explained while Bing was wiggling with excitement next to him. 

“I thought we were done working for the night?” Jackie asked from the couch, laying on his back with his legs across Henrik’s lap while Marvin was next to him. Bim and Yandere were no longer in the room, Wilford and JJ were talking to each other on the second couch with Host and Robbie was on the floor, coloring with Dr. Iplier, who was studying him.

“We are,” Chase stated, looked over at Dark. 

“The job isn’t complete,” Dark stated back. 

“It’s also eight p.m. and we’re just now making dinner.” Chase gestured towards the kitchen. “They need food and rest.” Chase let out a sigh. “It’s killing me to not go out there and save those kids now, but we’ll get ourselves and them killed if we don’t recharge.” Dark was about to protest when he heard Bing yawn. He glanced over and saw Google fussing over Bing, who was insisting that he was fine and ready to keep going and Google just made his ‘overly worried’ face that only Bing got. 

“Fine. We’ll get on it first thing in the morning.” Dark said, hearing another timer go off in the kitchen. “Dinner’s ready.” He added. 

“I’ll go get Bim and Yanny, I bet they’re fucking.” Anti giggled before running off. 

“They’re not,” Wilford said. “Bim-ster’s too shy to do that just yet.” 

“Yandere isn’t.” Dr. Iplier stated. 

“Oh yeah...oh shit!” Wilford quickly took off as well. 

x~x~x

Dark was, once again, up hours before he should be. This lack of sleep was bound to get to him soon. He should talk with Dr. Iplier about that, although that last time he planned to talk with the doctor, he wasn’t told what he wanted to hear. 

“I don’t like the idea of this.” Dark stiffened when he heard Marvin’s voice. 

“It’ll be fine,” Chase said back. Dark walked to the edge of the hall and saw Marvin and Chase together in the control room, the briefcase that had caught Dark’s curiosity was sitting on the control panel. 

“Let me go with you,” Marvin said. “You know we work great together.” 

“Always.” Chase chuckled. “But I need you to stay here and keep everyone together in case I’m not back by the time they get up.” 

“I’m not letting you go alone.” Marvin crossed his arms. 

“I can handle this,” Chase said. 

“At least take Anti with you. You’d probably be back before even JJ gets up.” Marvin suggested. 

“Marvy~” Chase sang out the nickname. 

“Don’t you be going all ‘Marvy’ on me, I want you to be safe.” 

“I will be.” Chase stepped towards Marvin and gently held his chin. “You know I always am.” 

“Don’t go.” Marvin pleaded in a soft whisper.

“I can’t leave those kids there,” Chase said. 

“Then let me go with you.” Marvin placed his hands on Chase’s chest. “Or take Anti or Jackie or JJ or someone, please.” 

“Marvin-”

“Please.” There was a small pause before Chase pulled Marvin in for a kiss. The two quickly getting lost in the moment and wrapping their arms around each other. A strong, burning feeling formed in Dark’s stomach. Anger. He knew anger very well. 

“What the hell!?” Dark found himself yelling, scaring Marvin and Chase. 

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Chase sighed. 

“How could you do that to Anti!” Dark shouted. 

“Do that to-” Chase couldn’t finish before Dark struck him across the face. Dark soon felt something grab at him and he was thrown back against the wall by a strong force. 

“Don’t you dare hit my husband!” Marvin snapped harshly, his eyes and hands glowing a bright green. 

“That stung like a mother-fucker! Holy shit!” Chase cursed, holding his sore cheek. “Marvin. Marvin, dear, it’s fine.” Chase placed a hand on Marvin’s shoulder. “That stung like a bitch, what the hell is your hand made of, ice?” Dark grunted when he was released and he fell to the floor. 

“Husband?” Dark asked. 

“That’s going to leave a bruise.” Marvin whimpered, checking Chase’s face before peppering it in little kisses. 

“Marv.” Chase giggled. “It’s fine, it’s fine, I promise.” 

“Husband?” Dark repeated, finally seeing that Marvin and Chase both had matching silver bands on their fingers. How did he never notice that before? 

“He thought I was with Anti,” Chase explained with a little laugh. 

“Anti? He’s practically your child.” Marvin huffed, placing his head on Chase’s shoulder and nuzzling into his neck. 

“I...I misjudged the situation.” Dark said as he stood back up. “I assumed wrong. I’m sorry for striking you.” 

“You gave me an excuse to stay. Gotta get some ice on this bad boy.” Chase chuckled, rubbing a hand in Marvin’s hair when he grumbled against his neck. 

“Is there any way I can make it up to you?” Dark asked. 

“Make breakfast and deal with the dishes,” Chase answered without hesitation. “I’m sure you remember how the Septiceyes work, right?” 

“I…”

“Good luck~” Chase sang, walking down the other hall with Marvin, who gave Dark a little glare over his shoulder. Dark sighed to himself, perking up when he saw that Chase had left the briefcase on the control panel, unlatched. He could take a peek and sooth the curiosity that was screaming at the back of his mind.

“You sure no one else is up?” Wilford’s voice made that curiosity go away, maybe another day he’ll look at it. “And the chocolate syrup is where-ah!” Wilford yelped when he saw Dark, he and JJ were both only in their boxers. “Uh...hey Darky, what’s got you up?” Wilford asked with a nervous laugh. 

“You can help me with breakfast,” Dark stated, heading over to the kitchen. 

“But, but I was gonna…” Wilford turned towards JJ who just silently giggled and waved ‘goodbye’ at him before walking back down the hall. “But…”

“Wilford,” Dark called. 

“You’re such a cock-block!” Wilford shouted as he went into the kitchen as well. 


	16. Finish The Job

“I feel like I should buy you an apron or something.” Anti giggled when he saw Dark in the kitchen, mixing a bowl of pancake batter. Dark stiffened a little and stared into the mix, not enjoying the fact that his brain was reminding him of his assumption and how he sprung into action like that. Why did he care if Anti and Chase were together? Why did he care if Chase was also with Marvin? Why did it bring him relief to learn that the first assumption was wrong? That Anti wasn’t with Chase and by the sounds of it, not with anyone at all? He shouldn’t care. “Did you piss off Marvin last night or something?” Anti asked, getting Dark to look at him. “There’s a Dark-size dent in the wall and I can still smell Marvin’s magic.” 

“Is that what the smell is?” Wilford asked, walking over with a large bowl of chopped up fruit. “I just thought someone sprayed something after taking a-” 

“Could you not?” Dark stopped Wilford from finishing his comment. 

“Shit?” Anti finished for the other man and Dark just groaned. “So, pissing off our head’s husband? What did you do?” Anti jumped up so he was sitting on the counter. 

“I...made an assumption,” Dark said, pouring several piles of the batter onto the griddle. 

“About?” Anti held out the word. 

“I didn’t know Chase and Marvin were together,” Dark admitted, biting his lip when both Anti and Wilford started laughing. 

“How could you not know!?” Anti asked. 

“That explains a lot!” Wilford had to hold his stomach from laughing so hard. 

“Marvin’s magic?” Dark asked, trying to change the subject. 

“Besides the love spell he has over Chase?” Anti giggled and shimmied a little as he spoke. 

“Yes.” Dark grumbled. 

“I mean, I’m pretty sure you already got a taste of it.” Anti winked. “But other than that, basic magic people stuff. Teleporting, moving things, fire coming from his hands.” 

“Fire?” Dark said.

“From his hands?” Wilford added. 

“It’s flaming~” Anti sang, his giggle stopping short when he saw that Dark and Wilford were sharing a look. “What? It wasn’t that bad of a joke.” 

“Can I?” Wilford asked. 

“During the mission. I know how much you love to make a show.” Dark said. 

“Show? What show? Come on, quit leaving me out of the loop, Darky.” Anti whined. 

“Darky?” Dark felt his chest warm up. 

“Bubbles calls you that all the time, why can’t I?” Anti said. “Now, what show?” 

“Later,” Dark said. 

“Why do you guys have to be so mysterious?” Anti pouted. 

“It’s what makes us fun.” Wilford chuckled.

It wasn’t much longer until breakfast was ready and everyone was in the control room eating. Bing and Google ate very fast and were already working on their laptops to make sure everything was set up to attack the main warehouse. Robbie was gone to take a shower, and Chase and Marvin were discussing who they were going to send on the mission. 

“I was going to go, but this shiner’s gonna make me stay,” Chase said with a little laugh, laughing, even more, when Marvin made a sound and crossed his arms. “Someone’s a protective kitty~” Chase sang. 

“Don’t call me that.” Marvin huffed. 

“Anything for you, my love.” Chase pressed a kiss to Marvin’s lips. 

“Softie,” Marvin muttered. 

“And you thought they weren’t together.” Anti teased Dark, sitting down on the armrest to the couch Dark was on. 

“I’ve been busy working.” Dark protested. “I don’t need to pay attention to other people’s affairs.” 

“You paid attention when you thought Chase was cheating on me.” Anti’s statement made Dark stiffen and Wilford started to choke on his eggs, coughing a few times and telling JJ he was okay. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dark quickly stuffed his mouth with the last bite of fruit on his plate. 

“There are no secrets among the Septiceyes, we know everything about everyone,” Anti said and then his smirk became a small smile. “It’s nice to know that you’re not completely heartless.” Anti looked away and Dark wondered if the blush that was on Anti’s cheeks were actually there or if he imagined it. 

“That’s why you slapped Chase!?” Wilford asked, voice coming out louder than he meant. 

“You hit Chase!?” Henrik shouted. 

“What is wrong with you!?” Jackie stood up and started to roll up a sleeve. JJ gave Dark a glare, but couldn’t move since Wilford was holding him down. 

“It was just a slap!” Anti protested, getting up. 

“ _ Slap, no, o-k!”  _ JJ signed harshly. 

“You watch the tone of your hands!” Anti pointed a finger at JJ and JJ just showed Anti his middle finger.  

“Guys, it’s fine.” Chase chuckled, face scrunching when he saw that the other Septiceyes were still yelling. “Guys.” Chase’s voice had a warning in it but he was ignored again. “Stop!” Chase shouted, the room immediately going silent and all the Septiceyes went stiff and looked at Chase with wide eyes. “Stand down,” Chase ordered. Henrik, Jackie, and Anti sat right back down and JJ rested his head on Wilford’s arm. Dark looked around the room, seeing all the Septiceyes silent and still was...strange. It was like they were in a trance of some sort, waiting to be told what to do next. 

“Mama had to use his loud voice.” Marvin giggled, breaking the silence and getting the other Septiceyes to break from their trance as well, continuing as if it never happened. Wilford and Dark shared a look while the other Ipliers did the same. 

“I’ll use it on you, too,” Chase warned with a grin. Marvin giggled some more and grabbed the front of Chase’s shirt, pulling him in.

“Good,” Marvin whispered. 

“Gross!” Anti shouted.

“Go get dressed, we’re starting the mission in twenty minutes. Anti, JJ, Jackie, and Marvin will be heading out.” Chase stated. 

“Okay!” The Septiceyes all said before getting up and leaving the room. 

“We’ll see you in twenty minutes,” Chase said to Dark as he and Marvin left as well. 

“What was that?” Bim asked. 

“That was weird and that’s coming from me.” Yandere said. 

“Hive mind,” Google stated.

“I don’t think it’s that Googs,” Bing said. “That wasn’t them working like a bunch of bees. They were like children being scolded by their parent.” 

“Host can sense that the Septiceyes view Chase as their parent like Bing had said.” Host stated, his voice deep and soothing. “They were not frightened that Chase had raised their voice, they were upset that their actions caused Chase to raise his voice since he is normally care-free and goes along with their antics.” 

“Mama had to use his loud voice,” Wilford repeated with a chuckle. 

“Host can also sense something about Chase...something different than the others.” Host chewed at his lip. “And Anti is even stranger than that, something...” Host strained and Dr. Iplier placed a hand on his shoulder to tell him to stop when blood started to drip down his cheeks. “That is all the Host is able to get without serious injury beyond what he has. Host apologizes.” 

“No need to be sorry, that just means we need to figure out their secret sooner rather than later,” Dark stated. 

“I don’t think they can beat what you have, Dark.” Dr. Iplier said as he got up to go get his med-kit. 

“Host isn’t so sure of that." 


	17. A Show

“Why does Bing need to go?” Google protested. “He’s not meant to go out into the field.” 

“There is a chance that they will need extra hands and since I’m staying behind again to ensure all goes well, Bing seems like the best candidate,” Dark stated. 

“Then have me go if you need extra hands.” Google offered. 

“You’re most useful here, your specialty is better suited for you to focus on your work instead of fighting,” Dark said. 

“Googs, I’ll be fine,” Bing said with a smile. 

“You’ll be better if you stayed,” Google said. “The Septiceyes are going with them, you don’t need Bing.” 

“I understand your concern for Bing but we have a job to do and your protesting is delaying us from leaving and saving those children,” Dark stated, watching as Google’s shoulders slumped. “Get suited up,” Dark said to Bing. 

“Yes, sir.” Bing gave Google a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off. Dark saw the worry in Google’s eyes as he watched Bing go. Usually, Dark would just shrug it off and head on, knowing that everything would be fine but he felt a strange urge to comfort Google, to tell him that everything will be fine and Bing will be safe. He shook the urge away and headed over to the control panel to retrieve his headset. 

“Don’t worry, Goo-bear.” Dark turned his head when he heard Chase’s voice, seeing that Chase had an arm around Google’s shoulders. “I’ll make sure to keep Bing in the middle of the group, that’s the safest place for him to be during the mission.” Google perked up a little. 

“Thank you,” Google said. 

“No problem. I get the feeling of wanting your partner to be safe, you’ve seen the way I am with Marvin.” Chase chuckled. “They’ll stay together in the center and Anti does a good job at keeping an eye on Marvin for me, so I’ll also tell him to watch Bing too.” 

“Thank you,” Google said again, a smile on his face. 

“How long have you two been together?” Chase asked.

“It’ll be a year in two weeks,” Google answered. 

“Oh~” Chase sang. “Do you two have anything special planned?” 

“Not that I know of,” Google admitted. 

“You can never go wrong with dinner and flowers, trust me.” Chase chuckled. 

“Payment is confirmed,” Anti stated and walked over to Chase, handing him his phone. “Government offered a bonus if we proved we killed the head of the ring. So, I figured we’ll give them a  _ heads  _ up.” Anti giggled. 

“Gives them another reason not to track us down,” Chase said after scanning over the information on the phone screen and returning it to Anti. “We’ll collect after the mission. Are the others ready?” 

“Yep. We’re ready to go on your word.” Anti answered, tucking his phone back into his pocket. 

“Dark, are the Iplier’s ready?” Chase called out. Dark watched as Bing returned to the room, adjusting his skateboarding helmet Google had gotten him after a ball fall. 

“They’re ready,” Dark confirmed. 

“Hey, Mr. Marvel.” Wilford chuckled as he went over to Marvin. “Since we all know that you can do some magical tricks, how about popping us over to the place instead of us having to drive and walk?” 

“I have no trouble with that,” Marvin said with a smirk. “I hope you Ipliers are ready.” He added with a little laugh before snapping his fingers, everyone who was assigned to leave disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. 

“I was expecting the others to at least be a little impressed,” Chase muttered, heading over to the control panel with Dark, slipping on his own headset. 

“You’ll understand why soon enough,” Dark stated. 

“I’m not sure how to feel about that,” Chase said, making a face when Dark only grinned. 

“Heat sensors are on,” Google said as he pressed a few keys on his laptop, showing red dots on several of the monitors. “All communication lines are clear and cameras in the warehouse are…” Several more key presses. “Hacked.” The rest of the monitors showed the inside of the building they were invading. Chase and Dark looked at the same monitor, seeing the Septiceyes and Ipliers at the door. 

“There are six men in the first room and six more will most likely join as soon as you start fighting. There’s a room deep in the back where the rest of them with the head and that room is filled with another seven people.” Chase explained. “Have at it Septiceyes.” 

“You can open the curtain to the show whenever you want, Wilford,” Dark said, getting a look from Chase. 

The two watched silently as the group easily took out the first round of men, the second round coming in not long after. Wilford has not yet opened his ‘show’. Dark caught out of the corner of his eye that Google was watching the monitors as well, eyes wide and following every single movement that Bing was making. Dark found himself watching Anti and felt his throat close up a little when a man went to attack him from behind, the feeling going away when Anti spun around and stabbed the man in the neck, chuckling as he kicked him away. That feeling of tightness in his throat wasn’t pleasant...was that what Google was experiencing? Dark now truly understood Google’s face and why he kept swallowing and having difficulty doing so. Dark held a hand out and patted Google’s shoulder, feeling him flinch under his hands from the sudden contact. 

“He’ll be fine,” Dark said, a small smile peeking out from the corner of his lips. He could feel Google relaxing a little at his comment. Google smiled back and nodded his head, going back to work but still glancing up at the monitors every other moment. 

“He does learn,” Chase said in a soft voice. Dark caught what Chase had said and decided to let it slide, seeing that the group was about to go into the last room. If Wilford did do his little show now, Dark would be very surprised. 

“Lady and Gentlemen,” Wilford said loudly after kicking in the door, earning a sigh from Dark while Chase made several sounds of shocked gibberish. 

“What is he doing!?” Chase shouted. 

“Being himself,” Dark said. 

“What do you mean he’s being-” Chase stopped himself when he saw Wilford becoming a cloud of pink smoke and appearing behind one of the men, shooting him in the back of the head. “Did he just…” Chase left the question to hang in the air, not needing an answer to it since the evidence was in front of him. 

“Marvin and Wilford have a few things in common,” Dark stated. 

“It smells like bubblegum!” Anti laughed as he jumped through a cloud Wilford had made. “It fucking tastes like it too!” 

“Anti, focus or no cake tonight,” Chase said in a warning tone. 

“Yes, mom.” Anti giggled, dropping down to his knees when a man tried to attack him. He rocked forward on his hands and kicked his legs back, knocking the man down. Dark opened his mouth to question the threat Chase made, but, once again, decided to let it drop. It worked for them he guessed. 

“What else can Wilford do?” Chase asked. 

“Basically what Marvin does, but a lot more colorful,” Dark said with a little scoff, seeing that the group was cheering since everything was complete. Anti ushered the others out of the room and with a nod to the camera Chase turned off that monitor. 

“So, that just leaves four more secrets, doesn’t it?” Chase asked.

“It does,” Dark said.


	18. They're Gone

“I’ve been friends with Chase for a long time,” Henrik explained as he went through some of his paperwork, finally getting to organize some of them after threatening to do so for so long. “I quit my job after his...incident.” 

“Incident?” Dr. Iplier asked. 

“I’m not in the right to say,” Henrik stated and Dr. Iplier nodded his head in understanding. “But he already had this whole ‘hitman’ deal set up. It was Chase, Marvin, JJ, and Jackie at that point. I’d helped out a few time when one of them got hurt and when Chase’s incident occurred, I left my job and started helping here full-time and that was when Anti...joined.” 

“The way you say that concerns me.” Dr. Iplier said, heading over to Henrik’s desk to help him gather some stray pages. 

“It’s complicated.” Henrik sighed. “And it wasn’t too long after until we had Robbie.” 

“Were Chase and Marvin together? I’m assuming they set this up together with how close they are.” Dr. Iplier raised a brow when Henrik chuckled. 

“Oh no, they were not.” Henrik clicked his tongue. “I guess the English term for it would be ‘frenemies’.” 

“There’s no way.” Dr. Iplier scoffed. 

“They fought, a lot. They couldn’t agree over anything and I’m pretty sure all of it was sexual tension.” Henrik laughed. 

“What got them together?” Dr. Iplier asked as he aligned some papers.  

“It was actually Anti,” Henrik answered, opening one of the drawers to his desk. “He knew that Chase was crushing on Marvin before Chase even knew, so he decided to flirt to Marvin in front of him and when Chase went over to confront him, Anti pushed Marvin right into his arms and that was the birth of the Septiceyes parents.”

“Are you like Jackie, JJ, and Marvin?” Dr. Iplier asked. 

“I’m just a normal human...well, normal isn’t really a term that would fit the life I chose.” Henrik chuckled a little before cursing, having dropped a container. 

“It’s cute that you see them as…” Dr. Iplier bent down and picked the container up, seeing that it was filled with a black liquid. “What is this?” 

“It’s nothing!” Henrik quickly too the container back and threw it back into his desk, slamming the drawer shut and locking it. 

“Nothing? It can’t be nothing if your reacting like this and why was it labeled with An-” Dr. Iplier’s questions were stopped by Henrik going up to him and pulling him into a kiss by the collar of his lab coat. “I…” Dr. Iplier swallowed, his and Henrik’s faces flushing a bright red. 

“That was...spontaneous,” Henrik said. 

“And so was this.” Dr. Iplier cupped Henrik’s face and kissed him back, feeling Henrik’s hands move from his collar to the back of his neck, his fingers threading through his hair. 

“Hey, Henrik, do you have any tweezers?” Anti’s loud laughing shout made the Henrik and Dr. Iplier part. “The doctors are fucking!” Anti announced, running away from the room. 

“I’ll be sure to buy Henrik some flowers, did you get the tweezers?” Chase asked, standing in front of the edge of the control panel, where a lightly crying Robbie sat, having gotten a splinter in his finger. 

“Why don’t you just use magic to remove it?” Dark asked, looking up from the book he was reading from. 

“It doesn’t work.” Robbie shook his head. 

“It’s-”

“We have a system.” Chase cut Dark off and Dark simply just rolled his eyes and took a sip from his mug of tea. “Go get the tweezers, Anti.” 

“I don’t wanna see lab coat dicks rubbing against each other.” Anti’s comment made Dark choke on his drink a little, having to cough into his hand. Dark cleared his throat one more time before seeing that Anti had a hand over his face and was giggling at him. 

“I was...unprepared for that comment,” Dark explained. 

“That was actually really ador-” 

“I have the tweezers,” Henrik said as he and Dr. Iplier entered the room, making Anti realize what he was about to say and he rubbed at his nose to hide his soft blush. 

“Thank you, Henrik.” Chase took the tweezers and he placed it against Robbie’s fingers. Marvin’s eyes had a soft hue to them and he snapped his fingers and Chase moved the tweezers away, showing a small sliver of wood being pinched between the pieces of metal. 

“Ta-da~” Chase sang, getting a giggle from Robbie. “Feel better, buddy?”

“Thank you!” Robbie happily said before jumping off the panel and going back to playing. 

“Remind me to buff out the table when I get a chance. This is the third time Robbie’s gotten a splinter from it.” Chase said to Marvin, tossing the wood sliver in the little metal trash can next to the control panel and returning the tweezers to Henrik. “I’ll probably do it after-”

“Chase? Chase are you there?” Chase stiffened when a female voice came out of Anti’s phone. His eyes went wide and he looked over at Anti. 

“Tell me you’re playing a sick prank on me, Anti,” Chase said. “Please.” 

“Chase? Chase, they’re scaring me.” The woman’s voice continued and Anti just watched his phone screen. 

“Anti’s not that fucked-up.” Henrik said and went over to Anti, seeing the phone screen for himself. “It’s her.” 

“No, no, no, no.” Chase rushed over and took the phone from Anti’s hands. 

“What’s going on?” Dark asked as the other Septiceyes were all tense. 

“Hello, Chase.” A man chuckled. 

“Let her go!” Chase shouted. “Why are you even doing this!? We helped you!” 

“This little lady’s not the smartest in the bunch, now is she?” The man tsked. Anti pointed at the monitors, showing what was on the phone to the others. “At least she’s pretty.” A large man was standing next to a young woman tied to a chair. There were several other men and women standing behind the trapped woman. 

“Chase, please, help.” The woman begged, tears rolling down her face. “I...I messed up, please. Chase, please!” 

“You know where we are, make sure to bring your checkbooks.” The man laughed before cutting off the call. 

“Who was that? Who’s the woman?” Dark asked while the Ipliers gathered. 

“Liam was someone we worked for a few months ago, he wanted someone killed and it was an easy job,” Marvin said. “He’s a dick, but he paid well. I knew something was off with him.” 

“And the woman?” Dark asked again.

“Stacy. She’s my ex-wife.” Chase clenched his jaw. “And the reason my children are dead.”  


	19. On Your Own

 

“Are you sure you want to go?” Marvin asked as Chase went under the control panel and took out the briefcase that Dark has been dying to know what was in it for over a week. 

“I have to,” Chase stated, pressing his fingers against the locks for a second before the case beeped and popped open. 

“You don’t have to,” Anti said, crossing his arms. “After everything, she’s done? I’d let the bitch go.” 

“I’m going.” Chase pulled out what was hiding in the briefcase and Dark’s eyes went wide while Wilford whistled. Chase was loading up, what looked like, a large assault rifle. There was a long chain of ammo that Chase wrapped around himself like a deadly sash. The weapon was mostly black with a golden ‘C’ carved into the side of the chamber. 

“That has the be custom made,” Wilford said to Dark. “That’s not how assault rifles are normally built.”

“It is and I made it,” Chase said, closing the briefcase. “Took me almost a year and I hope you’ll never have to see what all it can do.” 

“I’m coming with you,” Marvin said, standing next to Chase and holding his free hand. 

“I’m thankful that you are. Just stay back, okay?” Chase squeezed Marvin's hand. 

“Like you can stop me.” Marvin chuckled. 

“We’ll be back, Henrik, keep an eye on everything,” Chase said. 

“Don’t do anything too stupid,” Henrik said. 

“No promises.” Chase and Marvin both said before they vanished in a cloud of white smoke. 

“I’m guessing you've already hacked into their cameras?” Google asked when Anti went straight to the control panel. 

“You bet your metal ass I did.” Anti pressed a few buttons and soon they were all looking into the room from the call again. 

“Do you think they have more people than what’s there?” Bing asked as everyone gathered around the control panel, Dark ending up right next to Anti, their shoulders touching. 

“That’s all they have,” Jackie answered. “We’ve had JJ give the building a look over and we’ve done heat tracking in there as well.” 

“They’re probably not expecting a fight,” Dark stated. 

“They’re thinking that he wouldn’t risk his ex-wife getting killed.” Dr. Iplier said. 

“Does he still care for her?” Yandere asked.

“No.” All the Septiceyes answered while Robbie shook his head. 

“Then why is he going?” Bim asked. 

“He has a point to prove,” Anti said. “They tried to fuck with us and we’re going to fuck them right back.” 

“They didn’t take long to get here last time, I have a feeling it’s going to be the same for Chase,” Liam said to one of the men. 

“Do you think he’ll try anything?” The man asked. 

“And risk getting his lady killed? Please.” Liam laughed. “He’ll probably come in begging for us to let her go and we can charge him double for what she owes. I bet he-” Liam stopped when the door to the room was kicked open. 

“I’m giving you one warning to let her go,” Chase stated as he and Marvin walked in. “You’ve fucked up once and I am not going to let you do it again.” 

“Fancy weapon you’ve got there, kid.” Liam scoffed as he and the others pulled out their own guns. “That’s not going to stop us from killing your little kitty friend over there since you were supposed to come alone.” Liam aimed his gun at Marvin. Chase stepped in front of Marvin, lowering his own gun. 

“Don’t you fucking dare threaten him,” Chase growled. “And if your finger is itching to pull the trigger, go ahead.” Chase took a step towards Liam. 

“I suggest stopping right there, buddy,” Liam warned. 

“Do it. Shoot me.” Chase took several more steps. 

“Are you insane!?” Liam shouted. 

“Shoot me! Do it!” Chase started screaming. “Shoot me! Shoot-” 

_ BAM _

“Chase!” Stacy cried out. 

Dark ended up gasping himself. Did that really just happen? Chase just got shot. Why weren’t the Septiceyes panicking? 

“What?” Dark said when he saw Chase still standing with a large grin on his face. “Did he miss?” 

“Sir?” One of the men behind Liam said. 

“I...I hit him.” Liam blinked several times. “What did you do?” He asked Chase. Chase only chuckled as a response while Marvin checked his nails, letting his husband have some fun. “Shoot him!” Liam ordered and soon there was a wave of bullets, all aiming for Chase. Eventually, there were just clicks of empty guns. Chase just raised a brow at them, asking if they were done as a collection of shattered metal laid around him. 

“What the hell are you?” Liam asked. 

“I’m Chase Brody, you shit,” Chase stated and raised his own gun, easily firing off several rounds and hitting Liam and his crew in the head, killing them instantly. 

“He’s bulletproof?” Dark asked, seeing Anti nod his head. 

“Chase! Oh, my God!” Stacy cried. “How did you-what did you-what?” Stacy stumbled over her own words. 

“I learned about that little trick after you left.” Chase slipped off the remaining ammo and handed it and the gun to Marvin. “Do you know what it’s like to pull the trigger at your own head and opening your eyes to realize it didn’t work?” Chase went over to Stacy, pulling a pocket knife out of his jeans.

“I…” 

“I’m done.” Chase sliced off the binds and stepped away. “I can’t believe you’ve done this shit again.” 

“What else was I going to do?” Stacy asked. “You stopped paying-”

“I stopped paying because you got Penny and Lucas killed!” Chase screamed, making Stacy flinch. “Don’t you dare fucking blame me for this or anything because you don’t know how to handle your own money and you’re addicted to your damn games!” 

“I didn’t kill them, those loan shark-”

“Those loan sharks would have never known we existed if you didn’t waste all our money,” Chase spoke harshly between gritted teeth. “I started a goddamn hitman business to settle  _ your  _ debt to the ones who took our children as payment and they killed them when you tried to go back for more money.” 

“Do you know how hard it is to take care of yourself, to be alone?” Stacy asked tears in her eyes. 

“You mean how you ran away because I was grieving for my children? Because I was suffering and it was too much for you? Do you even care that they’re dead?” 

“Of course I do!” 

“I don’t believe you!” There was a long pause. “This is the last time I am bailing you out, I never want my name to be on your lips ever again.” Chase said. “I’m going home. With my husband.” 

“Husband?” Stacy whispered. 

“Husband,” Marvin confirmed, going up to Chase and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Chase decided to turn towards Marvin and grab his face, pulling him in for a proper kiss while Stacy’s eyes went wide. 

“You're on your own,” Chase said and he gave Marvin another kiss. “Anti, start prepping lunch and have Dark or Henrik help you cook. I’m going to be busy for a bit.” He said the last part with a little chuckle to Marvin. 

“Buh-Bye~” Marvin did a little wave at Stacy before they left in Marvin’s cloud of white smoke.


	20. So Close

“They’re going to be fucking all day.” Anti chuckled as he stirred a large pot of noodles, Henrik was next to him, stirring his own pot and he laughed as well. 

“I wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t see them until tomorrow,” Henrik said, taking the spoon out of the pot with a noodle on it. He blew on the noodle to cool it off before popping it into his mouth. 

“I wonder if they’re going to even be conscious tomorrow.” Wilford laughed. “I bet ol’ Marvy’s gonna be walking around like he’s got a peg leg.” JJ placed a hand over his mouth as he giggled since Wilford was now waddling around the kitchen. 

“I’d be more concerned for Chase,” Henrik said, lifting his pot off of the stove and heading over to the sink. 

“Really now?” Wilford asked with a raised brow. 

“Chase might be giving it, but Marvin can easily take a lot more than Chase can dish out.” Anti placed a noodle in his mouth and slurped the rest of it in. 

“Chase is gonna get milked dry!” Wilford hooted. 

“Could we please stop discussing Chase and Marvin’s sex life.” Dark huffed, using the knife to slide the carrot he had chopped up into a bowl that was filled with several other vegetables. 

“We can talk about mine and JJ’s.” Wilford offered with a smirk, heading over to the silent man who was sitting on the edge of the counter. JJ made a face at him and shook his head. “He might not talk but his mouth can-” 

“Wil!” Dark shouted while JJ slapped one hand over Wilford’s mouth, using the other to sign:

“ _ Turn voice off!” _

“Aw, but I wanted to hear what Bubbles was going to say.” Anti playfully whined as he stepped back to let Henrik grab the pot of noodles. 

“I can tell you later.” Wilford winked and JJ slapped at his chest in disapproval. 

“Are you about done?” Dark asked with an eye roll.

“You’re just pissy because you’re too stubborn to talk to someone to get some.” Wilford leaned a hand against the counter, the Septiceyes in the room all shared a confused look, Anti’s own eyes going wide. 

“Wilford,” Dark said as a warning. 

“I’m just saying that I’m getting a little impatient about you not sucking up the fact that you like-” Wilford’s lips suddenly clamped shut. Wilford blew harshly through his nose before taking his thumb and running the nail along his lips. “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t do that anymore?” Wilford snapped. 

“You stepped out of line,” Dark stated. 

“I stepped out of line?” Wilford scoffed. “Whatever, Dark. You didn’t have to be a dick about it.” 

“You were.” Dark raised a challenging brow. Wilford just puffed his cheeks before sticking his tongue out and walking away. JJ looked as if he was about to move his hands to say something but changed his mind and jumped off of the counter, going after Wilford. Dark let out a sigh and went back to chopping. 

“That was something,” Anti mumbled.

“It’s fine. He'll pout for a bit, probably use JJ to get out some of his frustration and then we’ll apologize to each other and move on as if it never happened.” Dark said. “It’s how we work.” 

“That doesn’t sound healthy,” Henrik said. 

“It’s fine.” Dark repeated. 

“It’s not fine. You should actually talk about your arguments instead of avoiding each other and then pretending it never happened.” 

“You’re not my doctor,” Dark stated. 

“Edward would say the same,” Henrik stated back.

“You have a crush on someone?” Anti suddenly asked. 

“I…” Dark cleared his throat and continued chopping, trying to ignore the question. 

“Does someone have a crush~” Henrik sang, a hint of a teasing in his voice. 

“I don’t know.” Dark blurted out, fighting the urge to literally bite his own tongue off. 

“You don’t know?” Henrik and Anti said together. 

“It’s complicated.” Dark prayed they let it drop. 

“Is it Wilford?” Anti asked. Dark’s hands went out of his control and he ended up slicing his finger, a curse left his lips as well. 

“I got him.” Anti grabbed a paper towel and went over to Dark while Henrik stepped out to get a bandage. 

“I thought Bim was the clumsy one of you guys.” Anti lightly chuckled as he made sure the finger was covered, glad to see there wasn’t a lot of red. “So, about this crush of yours?” 

“It’s not Wilford,” Dark stated. “Been there, tried that, not going back?” Dark saw Anti’s face of shock and chuckled. “I’m joking.” 

“Oh.” Anti chewed the inside of his lip, trying to will the burn of jealousy in his chest away. “You do have a crush then?” Anti smirked when he caught on. 

“I didn’t say that,” Dark said. 

“You said it wasn’t Wilford, not that you didn’t have one.” Anti giggled. 

“I’m still unsure of it,” Dark admitted in a mutter. 

“There’s nothing wrong with having a crush,” Anti said, eyes still staring down at Dark’s hands, only seeing the paper towel. “It lets you know that you still have a heart, that you can still feel even after everything that’s happened to you.” Anti tightened his hold on Dark’s hands a little. “That you can still love.” 

“Anti?” Dark said softly. 

“If it makes you feel better. I’m unsure of a crush as well.” Anti confessed, eyes traveling up to meet Dark’s. 

“You are?” Dark could feel his heart beating faster than normal. 

“I don’t know if he’ll ever feel the same way about me.” Anti bit his lip. 

“I’m sure that whoever he is, you could easily charm your way into his heart.” Dark softly chuckled, now feeling his face getting warmer. 

“I’m not so sure. He’s a charmer in his own rights.” Anti unconsciously took a step forward, making the two get closer. 

“Then maybe he’ll come to you first.” Dark was now whispering, knowing that the space between them was getting smaller and smaller with each second that ticked by. 

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Anti whispered back, their lips only inches apart. They could feel each other’s breaths on them, warming them up. 

“He should-” 

“I really need to organize my office some more. It took way too long for me to find my bandages.” Henrik’s loud laugh snapped Dark and Anti out of their trance. 

“I-uh, thank you, Henrik.” Dark quickly moved away from Anti, took the bandage from Henrik and ran out of the kitchen. 

Dark ran into his room and shut the door, gasping for air as he walked over to the desk and removed the paper towel from his hand. He easily cleaned up the dark, almost black, liquid that was his blood and even though the wound was already healed, he wrapped the bandage around it anyways. 

What was that?

What was  _ that? _

The warmth in his chest was strong. Very strong. 

He’s kissed others before, he’s done a lot more with others before but he’s never had such a strong reaction to just being close like that to someone. Is this what having a crush felt like? Did it cause this powerful burning in your chest? Make your stomach feel as if something was fluttering in there? 

It had to be. 

There was no other answer. 

“Henrik said you cut yourself,” Wilford said as he came into the room. “I don’t think we can really explain-”

“I have a crush on Anti.” 


	21. Awkward Crushes

“Well, it’s about damn time that you’ve realized it.” Wilford huffed.

“Wilford, that’s not helping.” Dark groaned.

“Then let’s get you back to the kitchen so you can help yourself to a healthy serving of Anti’s ass.” Wilford went deeper into the room and took Dark by the wrist.

“I’m not doing that!” Dark yelped, taking his hand back. “I…I-uh-”

“Are you blushing?” Wilford teased.

“Shut up!” Dark snapped.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush before.” Wilford started laughing as Dark went to the door and closed it.

“This is a serious problem, Wil,” Dark said, worry in his voice.

“Having a crush is a problem?” Wilford sat down on the desk. “I think it’s cute. Mr. ‘Stone And Emotionless’ has a thing for a spunky techie.”

“A human spunky techie.” Dark corrected.

“Oh.” Wilford chewed at his lip. “Well, how do we know-”

“Even if he has a power like JJ or Chase, he’s still human.” Dark went back to his desk and picked up the paper towel that had his blood on it. “I bleed black and the rest of me is…” Dark sighed. “Colorless…plain…and Anti’s not.” Dark threw the paper towel away. “He’s bright and colorful and full of life and I’m…dead.”

“You’re not dead.” Wilford protested.

“You know what I am!” Dark cried out. “You know that I’m a monster, a creature! I kill and that’s it!”

“You also care for the other Ipliers.”

“Wil-”

“You care for me.”

“I…”

“And you also care for Anti.” Wilford bounced off of the desk. “And I can tell you’re starting to get attached to the other Septiceyes as well. Especially Robbie.”

“Robbie came to me first,” Dark muttered his weak protest.

“Did you push him away?” Wilford saw Dark’s head shake a little before shaking it more clearly.

“It would never work,” Dark stated.

“You don’t know-”

“It won’t,” Dark said more to himself than Wilford and he walked out of the room, he had said he was going to help with lunch and that was what he was going to do.

x~x~x

“You two were strangely close together,” Henrik commented when Dark was gone as he took out his phone and sent a quick text to JJ.  

“I was just helping him,” Anti stated.

“I’m sure he’s capable of pressing a paper towel against his finger.” Henrik tucked his phone back into his pocket and went over to Anti, who was pouring the rest of pasta back into one of the pots.

“Chase is starting to rub off on me.” Anti refused to look at Henrik. Henrik hummed before going over to Anti.

“So, would Robbie call you mom or Dark?” Henrik asked.

“Shut up!” Anti’s face was bright red as he took the pot back over to the stove top.

“I think it’s cute.” Henrik chuckled, taking one of the jars of pasta sauce and opening it, handing it over to the still blushing Anti.

“It’s not cute…it’s scary.” Anti’s shoulders suddenly slumped as he poured the sauce into the pot. “I’m a monster.”

“Now, don’t be going on that train again, we all know that you’re too soft for that.” Henrik poked Anti’s side and laughed when Anti squealed.

“Henrik, you know what I am, but they don’t. Imagine what their reaction would be?” Anti stared down into the noodles as he slowly started to stir them. “They’d run for the hills.”

“They  know about Jackie’s and Marvin’s abilities, they know Chase is bulletproof and that JJ can go invisible and they haven’t run yet.” Henrik took the other jar of sauce and opened it. “They also have two android and someone with powers similar to Marvin’s and who knows what Host can do and what if Dark if just like them as well?”

“Do you really think?” Anti asked as Henrik started to mix some sauce into the other pot of noodles.

“It’d be really unlikely if he wasn’t,” Henrik said. “Plus I think you two would make a cute couple.” He added with a little snicker, seeing that Anti’s face was red again.

“But we’re too different,” Anti said. “He’s all prim and proper and I’m…not.”

“When had opposites ever stopped happy relationships? Have you seen Google and Bing? Google’s uptight and Bing’s playful, sound familiar?”

“I…” Anti’s voice trailed off, unable to come up with a good response.

“Even if Dark is human, that hasn’t stopped you before.” Henrik chuckled.

“And look at what that got me.” Anti scoffed. “A girl who dated me to piss off daddy and a guy who used and abused me.”

“Does Dark seem like the kind of person to be like that?” Henrik grabbed some cheese. “He definitely has a stick up his ass, but he clearly has a heart. You’ve seen the way he is with Robbie, he’s practically adopted him.”

“You’d have to be soulless to be mean to Robbie,” Anti said.

“Sounds like Mr. Dark has a soul.” Henrik hummed.

“I mean…he is really cute.” Anti said mumbled as he grabbed the other bag of cheese that had a piece of scotch tape on it with ‘Jackie’ written in black sharpie over it. “And he’s really smart and funny and…” Anti giggled to himself. “I guess Robbie was right.”

“Someone has a crush~” Henrik sang.

“Don’t tell mom,” Anti said.

“Don’t tell mom what?” Anti yelped loudly at Chase’s voice and Jackie’s cheese went flying everywhere.

“Nothing!”

“Anti has a crush.”

“Henrik!”

“A crush?” Chase placed his hands to his face while Marvin giggled, both of them shirtless and wearing sweatpants.

“Shouldn’t you two be fucking?” Anti asked, quickly turning away to hide his face.

“I wanted to check in on everyone.” Chase skipped over to Anti. “Now, who is this mystery crush?”

“I don’t have a crush!” Anti protested, walking away and going over to the fridge, needing to get more of the vegan cheese for Jackie.

“The blush tells a different story.” Marvin chuckled.

“You can tell your mom, I’ll keep it a secret,” Chase said as Henrik laughed, enjoying Anti being teased.

“He’s pulling a JJ,” Henrik said, getting Marvin and Chase’s attention.

“A JJ?” Chase asked before perking up.  

“Oh my, God!” Anti shouted. “Henny, I hate you!” He added as Henrik winked at him.

“You’re crushing on an Iplier?” Marvin moved so he and Chase were at both sides of Anti, looping their arms through his and somewhat trapping him.

“He’s a nice guy,” Henrik said.

“Henrik, you shite!” Anti cursed.

“So we know it’s not Yan,” Chase said.

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope!” Anti said and wiggled out of Chase and Marvin’s hold. “Y’all can finish lunch without me, I will not be interrogated in my own home.” Anti huffed while walking out of the kitchen. Hearing Chase and Marvin talking to Henrik and Henrik saying that he’s not going to tell them who the ‘mystery crush’ was.

“Oh.” Anti made a sound when he ran into what felt like a cushioned brick wall. He felt his face burning up once again when he saw that it was Dark he ran into.

“Um…hey,” Dark said, having to clear his throat since he could feel his own warmth in his chest. “I was just-”

“I need to-” Both of them stopped when they realized they had been talking over each other.

“Sorry.” They said together and laughed.

“I’m…going to the-uh-bathroom,” Anti said with pauses between his words, slowly walking around Dark and pointing with his thumbs.

“I’ll go back to the kitchen.” Dark scratched his head as he took several steps backward.

“I’ll be right back.” Anti clicked his tongue and made finger guns.

“Cool.” Dark weakly chuckled and there was an awkward pause before the two turned away from each other.

Anti internally groaned at the fact that he had done that. That was so damn cringy.

Dark’s chest felt as if it was on fire. When did he ever say ‘cool’? That wasn’t…cool.


	22. Anniversary

“When has Bing ever said anything about liking pink roses?” Bim asked, peeking over Anti’s shoulder to look at his phone. 

“I like pink roses,” Wilford said in defense, looking into the camera with a huff. 

“You’re not Bing!” Bim, Anti, Marvin, and Chase all shouted. 

“None of you are helping!” Google shouted as well, unseen since he was holding the phone on his end. 

“I think there are orange roses,” Anti said. 

“Roses can come in any color since they just color the life out of them,” Marvin said. “Poor things don’t live long since most places don’t know how to do it right.” 

“It doesn’t have to be roses.” Bim protested. 

“But roses are the flowers of love,” Wilford said, picking up a large bouquet of them and they ended up hiding the majority of his body. 

“Guys! Bing just turned off the water!” Yan shouted as she ran into the room. 

“Hurry up, you fucks!” Anti said.

“Yelling doesn’t make this easier!” The camera started to wave back and forth frantically as Google tried to make sense of how flowers worked. 

“Wait!” Chase’s voice got Google to stop. “Are those sunflowers?”

“Sunflowers?” Everyone question Chase. 

“Bing and sunflowers? Perfect fit.” Chase simply explained.

“I-”

“Listen to mama,” Anti said. “Get the sunflowers.”

“Don’t forget the chocolates and hurry back, we’ll try to keep him distracted and out of the living room until you’re ready,” Chase said. 

“Dudes! Who took my clothes!?” Bing’s voice echoed from across the building. 

“Why does Bing not have-”

“Sunflowers and chocolates!” Anti quickly said and hung up the phone, seeing that Yandere was holding a bundle of clothes. 

“We said to keep him distracted, not naked.” Marvin groaned. 

“He’s not going to leave the bathroom naked.” Yandere said. 

“Did you take all the towels?” Bim asked.

“Should I?” 

“He’s going to go to the room!” Chase scrambled off of the bed and took off. 

“He can’t go in the room!” Bim took Yandere’s hand and ran after Chase with her. Marvin’s head twitched a little when a timer started beeping in the kitchen. 

“I’ll take care of the cake, you help Google and Wilford in here,” Marvin said before heading out. 

“Do I want to know why there is so much yelling-” Dark quickly stepped to the side and let Marvin passed. “-and running?” He finished, taking the last bite from the apple in his hand that he had grabbed from the kitchen. 

“It’s Bing and Google’s anniversary,” Anti said as she started to push one of the couches against the wall. 

“I’m aware of that,” Dark stated. “I thought that it would only be Google and Bing acting out but Bing went for a shower and I haven’t seen Google since last night.” 

“We’re helping Goo-Bear set up a little surprise for Bing.” Anti went over to the other couch and started to move it. Dark tossed the apple core into the nearby trash can and went over to Anti, gesturing that he was willing to help. “We’re gonna put it in front of the other couch, cushions together.” Anti said. The two didn’t speak as the moved the couches, Dark letting Anti take the lead since he wasn’t sure what he was up to. “And now…” Anti held out the word as he pulled on the back of the couch and it stretched out to make it into, somewhat, of a bed. “It’s how we do movie nights here.” Anti said and went to the end of the bed, pressing his heel down into the ground and activating a panel. Dark watched as the hidden TV came up and out of the ground. 

“I still find that a very interesting design choice,” Dark commented, turning his head when he heard a squeak and found that Anti had jumped on the couch-bed. 

“This thing is so damn comfy~” Anti practically purred. 

“The couches are very well put together,” Dark said.

“Come on, come lay down.” Anti patted the spot next to him. 

“I’m fine.” 

“Don’t be a butt.” Anti rolled over to his knees and grabbed Dark by his blazer, pulling him down on the couch. “See? Comfy.” Anti went on Dark’s back to prevent him from running away. 

“You’ve made your-” Dark’s voice became a squeak when Anti gently scratched at his neck. 

“Are you ticklish too!?” Anti asked with a squeal. 

“No-oh!” Dark broke out into laughter when Anti started to tickle his sides. “A-Anti! No fair!” 

“Revenge is a bitch!” Anti had his moment before Dark shifted and knocked him off balance. Dark rolled them over and saddled Anti’s hips and he pinned his wrists to the couch-bed. 

Everything went silent

They were both panting but their breathing slowly calmed and all they could do was just look at each other, eyes wide and bodies heating up. They both had a strong desire in their chests but were very unaware of how the other felt. They were lost in the moment. They moved closer and closer, neither realizing what was happening until-

“Are we interrupting something?” Google asked.

“You ruined the moment!” Wilford scolded. 

“What moment? I don’t get it.” Google fumbled his hands a little as he tried to keep all the sunflowers he was holding from falling to the ground. 

“How do you have a boyfriend?” Wilford scoffed.

“I should help Marvin with the cake.” Anti quickly got out from under Dark and ran off.

“I have work to get done.” Dark got up as well and left. 

“Wait a second!” Wilford went to chase Dark but Google’s whine made him stop. 

“I...don’t know what I’m doing.” Google admitted, looking down at the flowers. Wilford looked towards where Dark went, then to Google, then back to the area and then back to Google and he groaned. “I need to write you a book.” He grumbled, taking some of the flowers and helping Google decorate the living room. 

“Go ahead and give Chase a text, everything seems to be done,” Marvin said as he and Anti came back into the living room. Marvin held a small cake that had a soft gradient of blue and orange with red, green and yellow ‘wires’ made of fondant making swirling designs covering it as well. 

“Marvin! That looks so cool!” Wilford praised.

“Anti did most of it. All I did was roll out the fondant.” Marvin admitted.

“Who knew you had a skill for baking?” Wilford chuckled, giving Anti a pat on the back. 

“It’s not that impressive,” Anti mumbled into his phone.

“This is really well done,” Google said, getting a better look at the cake when Marvin handed it to him. 

“He’s coming!” Chase announced, running into the room and going to Marvin, laughing as he purposely ran into the other man and hugged him. 

“Why is everyone acting...so...strange...” Bing’s voice became very soft as he looked into the room. “Googs?” 

“Happy anniversary,” Google said with a small smile. 

“Googs!” Bing cried out and rushed over to Bing

“Cake, cake, cake!” Google tried to warn through laughs as Bing held onto him and peppered his face with kisses. 

“I love you too, Googs!” Bing giggled.

“You should see what I’ve done with the bedroom,” Google said softly. 

“Oh?” Bing hummed. “Is there more treats in there?” 

“Perhaps.” 

“Good.” 

“Y’all are gross,” Anti said and stepped back into the kitchen. 

“Have fun you two~” Wilford sang as Bing and Google began to walk away. 

“Thank you for the help.” Google said before they were gone. Wilford chuckled and waved at the two while Chase whispered something to Marvin. Marvin gave Chase a look that said ‘don’t go too far’ before stepping aside and typing out a quick text on his phone. 

“So, speaking of relationships,” Chase said, going over to Wilford. “I see that you and JJ are getting very close.” 

“He’s a swell chap,” Wilford said with a large smile. 

“He really likes you.” Chase’s comment made a tint of pink appear on Wilford’s checks. 

“I like him too.” Wilford chuckled in his throat and rubbed the back of his head. 

“I’m glad to hear that.” The tone in Chase’s voice made Wilford look at him. “We Septiceyes really care for each other. We’re one big happy family.” Chase stated. “So, I’m just going to let you know that if you hurt him or break his heart-” Wilford didn’t have time to react before Chase took the gun he had hanging from the holster hanging loosely around his hips and had the barrel of it pressed to his forehead. “We’ll get to learn if you’re bulletproof or not.” Chase said before losing his grip on the gun and letting it spin around so the handle was facing Wilford. “Understood?” 

“Yeah,” Wilford said, a little stunned about what had just happened. 

“Chase, dear, I think you broke him.” Marvin chuckled. 

“Your turn.” Chase winked before slapping Marvin on the rear. 

“Oh, we’ll see about that.” Marvin grabbed Chase by the collar of his shirt and dragged him off. JJ had been walking into the room and he waved at the two as they passed. 

“I think I was just threatened by your mother.” Wilford said with a soft laugh. JJ looked over his shoulder before putting a hand to his mouth as he laughed himself. “When are you going to tell them that you’re the devilish one?” Wilford asked, going over to JJ.

“ _ Later _ .” JJ signed with a mischievous smile. Wilford took JJ by the hand and spun him around before pulling him in close. 

“Now, why is it that I just don’t seem to believe you but everyone else does?” Wilford asked with a hum in his voice, pressing a kiss to the side of JJ’s neck. 

“ _ I. Cute. _ ” JJ signed when Wilford lifted his head back up. 

“You sure are.” Wilford tried to get another kiss but JJ stopped him by pressing a finger to the tip of his nose. JJ winked before hopping back, gesturing with a finger for Wilford to follow before taking off. Wilford laughed and went after the silent man. 

Anti stood at the entrance to the kitchen, arms crossed and face scrunched up in jealousy. Why couldn’t he have that? Why couldn’t he just get over himself and ask Dark out? He’s never been one to shy from that. Although, Dark lived here. He couldn’t really run away if he said no. That would make everything so awkward. Dark did like someone. Was there actually a chance that it could be him? Anti moved his hands so that he was now hugging himself, doubt flooding his mind after that thought. Like that would ever be true. Dark probably liked someone who wasn’t...him. 

Anti blinked away tears that threatened to form and he left the room in a cloud of his own, unaware that Dr. Iplier had just walked in and had witnessed Anti vanishing in a puff of, what looked like, a swarm of small, green cubes.


	23. He Cares

Edward’s eyes were wide and his mouth was stuck open. He just wanted a drink, he just wanted some water and instead, he witnesses something he probably wasn’t meant to. 

“Holy fuck.” Edward cursed to himself before taking off, heading for Dark and Wilford’s room. “Dark!” He shouted after kicking in the door, managing to actually scare Dark since he had buried himself into work to prevent his mind from wandering. Dr. Iplier swallowed thickly and looked at the pencil that was now sticking out of the wall next to his head. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“What do you need?” Dark got up from the desk and pulled the pencil out of the wall. 

“It’s Anti.” Dark stiffened at Dr. Iplier’s comment. 

“What about him?” Dark forced himself to keep his voice steady and calm. 

“I’m not sure how to word this, but he kind of pulled a Wilford.” Edward scratched the side of his head.

“A Wilford?” 

“He vanished in a cloud but it wasn’t like the smoke that Wilford and Marvin use.” Dr. Iplier said. “It was like green little cubes, but they were shiny and reflective like...pixels.” 

“Pixels? What do you mean pixels?” 

“I mean he looked like he was going into a retro video game.” 

“I’m getting Wilford.” Dark walked out of the room with Edward following him. “Wilford, we need to talk,” Dark said after knocking on JJ’s bedroom door. 

“Little busy here, Dark,” Wilford called. 

“We need to talk, now.” 

“Can you wait like five...ten minutes?” 

“It’s late, maybe we should-” Edward stopped when Dark opened the door and just walked in. “Dark!” Edward went in after Dark and quickly squeaked and covered his eyes when he saw that Wilford and JJ were naked in the bed. 

“Someone better be dying.” Wilford huffed, taking the blanket and covering JJ before getting out of the bed, walking around the room completely bare. 

“You can continue what you’re doing after we’re done. I need your input on this.” Dark stated, unfazed while Edward made his way out of the room, hitting his shoulder on the doorframe as he tried to leave.

“Yeah, yeah,” Wilford grumbled, slipping on his shirt and leaving it unbuttoned. “Jamie, where is my underwear?” JJ smirked as he pointed, showing that the spotted boxers was hanging from one of the blades of the ceiling fan. “How did you even?”

“ _ Magic.”  _ JJ signed with a silent giggle. 

“Well fuck that.” Wilford laughed, bending down to grab his pants. “I shouldn’t be gone too long.” He said as he stepped into his pants and pulled them up, giving JJ a quick peck on the lips as he buttoned them up. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” JJ just winked and waved goodbye to Wilford with his fingers as he left the room with Dark. “What is so dire that you couldn’t wait for us to finish?” Wilford asked after closing the door, following Dark to their own room where Edward was waiting for them. 

“It’s Anti,” Dark stated, closing their own door as well. 

“What about Anti? Is he hurt or something? I feel like there’d be a lot more panic if he was.” Wilford crossed his arms. 

“Anti teleported like you can, but instead of smoke, he was in a cloud of pixels,” Dark stated.

“Pixels? Magic or my abilities don't use pixels.” Wilford rubbed his chin in thought. 

“Maybe Anti changed his smoke to look like pixels?” Edward suggested. 

“That just sounds like a waste of energy,” Wilford said. “Unless it’s not magic.” 

“What else could it be?” Dark asked. 

“I honestly have no idea,” Wilford admitted. “This is out of even my experience.” 

“What if he’s something like Dark?” Edward’s question made the other two men freeze. 

“Do you think?”

“No, there’s no way.” 

“But it’s possible.”

“I’d be able to tell.” 

“What if he’s-”

“He’s not.” 

“Stop that!” Wilford’s snap made Dr. Iplier jump. “He’s clearly not human and you won’t accept that because you’ll lose your only ‘legitimate’ excuse for not wanting to be with him.” 

“I feel like I should leave,” Edward said. 

“No, we’re not discussing that and I need you to tell us in detail what you saw,” Dark said.

“No, we are discussing this and Edward can leave if he wants.” Wilford protested. 

“Don’t you want to hurry up and go back to JJ?”

“JJ’s patient.”

“You’re not.” 

“For fuck’s sake, Dark!”

“I’m gonna go.” Edward tried to step out. 

“Stay!”

“Go!” 

“Stop it!” Wilford and Dark both shouted at each other as Edward used that moment to leave. 

“Fuck it!” Wilford left the room as well. “I’ll ask Anti myself.” Dark rushed out and before he could say anything, he saw that JJ was in front of Wilford. How long had he been there? Had he been listening the whole time? 

“ _ Wilford _ .” JJ signed Wilford’s name by holding up three fingers to make a ‘w’ and tapping it to his chest where his heart is three times. 

“It’ll just be another minute. I need to talk to Anti.” Wilford said. JJ slipped his hands under Wilford’s shirt and pressed their chests together, lower lip pouting out. “I’ll just be a…” Wilford’s voice trailed off as JJ nuzzled his nose into his neck and gave him a hug. “Jamie,” Wilford whined while one of JJ’s hands went to his cheek and he was pulled down into a kiss. 

“ _ Please _ .” JJ slowly signed, still holding Wilford close and his puppy-dog eyes on full display.

“You’re lucky I can’t tell you no.” Wilford scooped JJ up and the two vanished, leaving Dark to look into the slowly fading cloud of pink smoke. 

Dark felt that annoying jealousy burning in his stomach and making its way up to his throat and he could actually feel it affecting his eyes. 

He didn’t care.

He didn’t care.

He didn’t…

He did. 

He cared.

He cared about not being alone. He cared about seeing others being happy while he wasn’t. He cared about the other Ipliers. He cared about the Septiceyes.

He cared about Anti.

And he hated that he cared too much to do anything about it because of fear. 


	24. A Virus

“Do you think he’s like Anti?” Chase asked JJ in a whisper. 

“ _ Anti, Dark, same-as, know.”  _ JJ shook his head while signing the last word, telling Chase that he didn’t know.

“Maybe they’re similar or something,” Chase suggested and JJ shrugged in response. “We haven’t seen him do any field work yet and by the sounds of it he usually does it when it was just the Ipliers.” 

“What are you two gossiping about?” Marvin asked with a little laugh as he came into the kitchen. “Are you already getting breakfast started?” He added when he saw that Chase was getting the pancake mix out. 

“We just wanted to get a head start.” Chase said, taking Marvin’s hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it, weakly chucking when Marvin gave him ‘the look’. “I promise it’s nothing too big.” Marvin continued his look. “Honey-”

“Chase.” 

“It’s about Dark.” Chase sighed in defeat. 

“Did he do something again?” Marvin asked. “Because I will-”

“We’re thinking he might be like Anti,” Chase said, cutting off Marvin’s threat. 

“Is that even possible?” 

“We’re not sure. JJ overheard Dark and Wilford arguing last night and it sounds like Dark’s hiding a big secret like Anti’s.” 

“We could always get Anti and JJ to sneak around a little more and try to figure it out, although I don’t like the idea of doing that,” Marvin said. 

“It doesn’t seem like something that would cause danger to us since we’d probably already be fucked over if it was.” Chase was about to say more when Anti suddenly appeared on the kitchen table. “Anti?” 

“Hey.” Anti greeted, voice groggy. 

You sound terrible.” Marvin went over to Anti and pressed the back of his hand to Anti’s forehead. “You’re burning up.” 

“I’m f-fi-” Anti sneezed and was now on top of the fridge. Green cubes floating everywhere in the room. 

“There you are!” Henrik exclaimed as he came into the room as well, carrying one of his special first-aid kits. 

“What’s happening, Henrik?” Chase asked as he and JJ helped Anti down. 

“I’m still working on figuring everything out,” Henrik said. 

“It sounds like he’s sick,” Marvin said.    
“ _ Ill?”  _ JJ asked, pointing at Anti. 

“I thought he couldn’t get sick,” Chase said. 

“Yes and no.” Henrik sat Anti down in one of the chairs and used a light he pulled out of his lab coat pocket to look at his eye. “He doesn’t catch a cold like the rest of us, his immune system works differently than ours.” Anti rubbed at his eyes when Henrik put his light away. “I don’t think it’s a ‘cold’ cold, I think it’s his body reacting to him pushing down a large amount of emotions and his brain knows that humans get sick when there’s a lot of pressure or restraint put on us and his body and going with the coding of his mind.” 

“Anti, is there something you need to talk to us about?” Chase crouched down in front of Anti, hands holding Anti’s arms. “You know you don’t need to hide anything from us, we’re here to help you, we all care for you,” Chase said. 

“He’s crushing,” Henrik stated. “No one’s hurting him, he’s only hurting himself.” 

“The Iplier crush?” Marvin asked and JJ made a face of shock. 

“He’s had crushes before and he’s never gotten sick from them,” Chase said. 

“Something about this one is different, it’s affecting him more.” Henrik’s comment made a blush go on Anti’s cheeks. “He actually really likes this one.” 

“I don’t like him that…” Anti held out the word as another sneeze happened, sending him away again. 

“I told you! Pixels!” Dr. Iplier’s voice yelled from the control room. 

“Shit!” Chase cursed and the four ran into the control room, seeing that Anti was in the center of the room on the floor, the other Septiceyes and all the Ipliers in the room with him. 

“Is Anti sick?” Jackie asked. “I thought he couldn’t get sick.” 

“Ant?” Robbie started going over to Anti and stopped when Anti sneezed again and that was when Yandere, Bim, and Bing all let out a shout and the other Ipliers stiffened with shock. 

“Anti, you’re neck!” Edward quickly scrambled to his feet. 

“Stay back, Edward,” Henrik said while Chase cut him off. 

“He’s bleeding from his neck!” Dark said. 

“We have this,” Marvin said. 

“Anti, I need you to stay calm,” Henrik said to Anti, who was shaking and holding the open wound that was across his throat. 

“M-Make it s...stop,” Anti said, voice slurring and sounding like he was gargling. 

“Just move your hand and I will,” Henrik said. 

“Let me help.” Dr. Iplier said, pushing Chase aside. 

“Do not touch him,” Henrik ordered. “Do not.”

“Why?”

“He’ll snap and I will not let you get hurt.” Henrik was pulling out some stitching thread and a needle. 

“I...I h-hate...I h...hate it.” Anti groaned. 

“It’ll only be a few minutes.” Henrik managed to lower Anti’s hand and he started sewing up the wound. 

“Something’s off,” Google stated, looking around and seeing the Septiceye’s reactions. “He’s not in danger or the others would be panicking.”

“Does this happen often or something?” Wilford asked.

“It’s a gash on his neck, why aren’t any of you worrying?” Dark asked as well. 

“Dudes…” Bing pointed at Anti when he saw that the man was changing. 

“Anti’s eyes are now a bright green instead of the deep blue the Ipliers have seen. His ears have grown and stretched up to a point and his open mouth shows that his once flat teeth now had fangs sticking out of them. His new appearance tells everyone in the room that he seemed to be to all of them. He is unlike the others, he’s a…” Host’s voice trailed off for a second before he spoke again. “A virus?” 

“A virus? Like, a computer bug?” Yandere asked. 

“Host is unable to see more without causing pain.” Host answered, lowering his head when he realized he had exposed his own secret as well unconsciously since the vision suddenly occurred.

“There you go, is that better?” Henrik asked, using a rag to wipe off some of the blood from Anti’s neck. “Jackie, can you get some wet rags?” Jackie nodded and was gone in a blink. 

“Anti...what are you?” Dark asked, seeing Jackie return and hand Henrik what he had asked for. Anti swallowed and looked at Chase as if asking for permission. 

“It’s up to you,” Chase said. Anti swallowed before taking a deep breath. 

“I’m not human.” 

“Looks like I don't need to ask anymore,” Wilford said quietly to Dark, who was just staring at Anti, not knowing what to think at all. 


	25. Not Human

He’s not human.

He’s not.

Human. 

Dark sat on the couch, chin on his hand as he stared at Anti, his story being told as Henrik cleaned him up and bandaged his neck. 

He had been an actual virus inside of the main computer. An AI that was created to hack into the main ware and get credit information, passwords, and the works. Marvin wasn’t able to figure out how to get the virus to go away, so he tried magic. His spell ended up creating Anti, the AI’s mind becoming a real one and a body coming out of the screen. Chase and Marvin weren’t expecting a man to literally come from their computer and Anti went wild. Screaming nonsense until his vocal cords were properly formed, but causing damage to the area around them, and he ran away. Killing anything that was near him and when it started raining that night, Anti returned to the building, soaking wet and crying. Chase and Marvin took him in and ‘raised’ him, they basically gave him a home and Anti stayed. 

He can teleport, go into electronics, hack into anything with his own pixels and even more. 

He wasn’t human. 

He was a creation. 

Someone formed from something else. 

“I’m still trying to figure everything out about him, but it’s very complicated, magic isn’t something you can add logic to.” Henrik said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small sucker. 

“Only good thing about having my neck opening back up,” Anti mumbled, taking the sweet and popping it into his mouth. 

“The neck wound, what is that about?” Edward asked. 

“My spell wasn’t perfect, obviously.” Marvin sighed. “Since Anti came out screaming before his neck was fully formed, it caused a rupture that sometimes reopens because of a sneeze, anger, sorrow, we don’t know until it bleeds.” 

“He won’t die from it, it just fucking sucks,” Chase stated. 

“What’s Host?” Anti bluntly asked, wanting to change subjects. “The way he spoke earlier, something’s up with him.” 

“He can see things,” Edward said with a shrug. “It’s hard to explain, he can see beyond what we can. Past, present, future, it just depends on what he concentrates on.” 

“So...the only person that we don’t know anything about is Dark,” Chase said, looking over at Dark who had finally snapped back into the present when he heard his name. “I highly doubt that you’re like Henrik and Edward.” 

“It’s none of your concern,” Dark stated, standing up. 

“Dark, I think it’s only fair-”

“It’s none of their concern.” Dark repeated sternly, leaving the room. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Wilford grumbled. “Dark!” Wilford followed them to their bedroom, breathing harshly through his nose when Dark slammed the door shut before he got there. “Would you stop running away from this!?” Wilford snapped, throwing open the door and shutting it behind himself. 

“I’m not running,” Dark said, stacking up papers on the desk. 

“Then what the hell did you just do!?” Wilford went up to Dark and grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn and look at him. “You literally left the room. Anti’s not human. He’s not human.” 

“That doesn’t change anything.” 

“That was the only reason that kept you away from him.” Wilford held both of Dark’s shoulders. “Would you fucking grow up and admit that you like Anti?” 

“I do. I know I do. I fucking like him.” Dark felt his throat closing up a little. “I don’t just like him...I...I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I don’t understand it. It’s so fucking warm.” 

“I don’t get it.” Wilford huffed. “He’s not human, he’s strong and intelligent, he clearly likes you but why are you still avoiding it?” 

“I’m not human…” Dark swallowed, feeling his chest tremble as he tried to breathe. 

“Neither is he. He’s not human. You’re not human. It’s a perfect match!”

“I don’t want to hurt him!” Dark cried out, hands clenching. “I can’t...I can’t…” 

“Dark…”

“I’ve killed, tortured, and ruined people’s lives without a second thought...but just the idea of being the one to cause him harm...I...it hurts.” Dark blinked and found that his vision was getting blurry. “I don’t understand this myself. What the hell is this? Why do I feel this way? What’s happening to me?” Dark looked at Wilford with wide eyes, showing the fear that only Wilford has ever seen before. 

“You have it hard, Dark,” Wilford said with a small smile, giving Dark’s shoulders a rub. 

“It’s a crush. It’s just a crush but none of my research says that a simple crush causes this feeling.” 

“You’re in love,” Wilford stated.

“Don’t say that. Don’t do that to me.” Dark pushed Wilford away. “Love? Love?” Dark started to pace. “That’s not possible. That’s not how I work. That’s not how any of this works.” Dark rubbed at his temples. “We’ve only been here for a few weeks, this isn’t possible!” 

“I love JJ,” Wilford stated, getting Dark to stop and look at him. “I want the best for him. I want him to always be happy, to have everything that he could ever dream of wanting. I want to fall asleep seeing his smile and then waking up to it.” Wilford let out a little chuckle. “He’s the best thing to have ever happened in my life and I never want to lose that.” Wilford went back over to Dark. “And I want you to have the same feeling. You deserve to be happy with someone that you love, that you care for and they care for you.” 

“I can’t.” Dark sighed. 

“What’s it gonna take to get you out of your own head?” Wilford asked. 

“I don’t know,” Dark admitted in a soft voice. “I really don’t know.” 

x~x~x

“You didn’t come out for dinner.” Chase’s voice made Dark stiffen. It was in the middle of the night and Dark decided to get out of his room since it felt too small and he wasn’t expecting to find Chase sitting at the control panel, watching something on the screens. 

“I...wasn’t hungry.” Dark lied. 

“Is that why Wilford snuck you a plate of food as we were cleaning?” Chase asked with a knowing look.

“It’s complicated,” Dark said. 

“You like scotch?” Chase held up the bottle. 

“I’m not picky.” Dark grabbed one of the chairs and sat down with Chase, seeing that there were several videos of two small children running around and playing. 

“Penny and Lucas.” Chase poured Dark a drink and handed him one of the glasses. “Twins.” 

“They look very happy,” Dark commented.

“They were the happiest and brightest kid's anyone could ask for.” Chase sighed. 

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Dark took a drink, welcoming the slight burn going down his throat. 

“I do still miss them, I still love them, but I have a family I need to take care of now.” Chase took a long swallow of his own drink. 

“They’re like your children, aren’t they?” Dark asked. 

“Henrik’s like the crazy uncle that takes care of us but needs help himself sometimes.” Chase chuckled. “Jackie, Robbie and, Anti? Yeah...they’re my kids.” 

“Could I ask you about that night?” Dark suddenly asked. “When you learned of your powers?” 

“Fire away.” Chase cringed at his own choice of words. 

“How did it feel?” 

“How do you mean?” 

“How did it feel to want to do that and then learn you couldn’t?” 

“It was...something.” Chase stared down into his glass. “I just didn’t want to deal with anything anymore.” Chase chewed on the inside of his mouth. “After the first shot...I tried again...and again and again and again until I ran out of bullets.” Chase’s eyes went dull as if he was no longer there. “I called Marvin, crying my eyes out. I’m shocked that he understood me. He got Henrik and they came over to the apartment where I lived, the police had just arrived as well.” Chase blinked and a tear rolled down his cheek and fell into his drink. “Henrik had to do a lot of convincing and bribing to get them to leave. I hated that I was still alive but I wasn’t given a choice anymore.” Chase blinked again and took a deep breath, coming back to the real world. “It wasn’t long after that when we got Robbie and Anti. The little ones.” He added the last part with a soft laugh. “Now, time for me to ask a question.” Dark just hummed as a response. “Are you human?”

“I can’t answer that,” Dark stated. 

“Do you like Anti?” The second question got Dark to go stiff. 

“What-I-Uh.” Dark fumbled over his words. 

“A father always knows,” Chase grunted as he stood back up. “It was all over your face when Anti’s secret was revealed and it seems that everyone knows that you guys like each other, everyone but you and Anti.” Chase patted Dark’s back. “If it ends up happening, know that I won’t hesitate to shoot you if you hurt him.” 

“I understand.” 

“Chase?” Marvin called out from the entrance to the room, wearing one of Chase’s shirts. “Are you coming back to bed?” 

“I’m coming.” Chase smiled when he saw Marvin. 

“Chase.” Dark stood up as well and held his hand out towards Chase. “You have my respect.” 

“About damn time.” Chase chuckled, taking Dark’s hand and using it to pull him into a hug. “Don’t forget what I said, alright?” Dark just nodded his head. “He likes purple chrysanthemums.” Chase winked before letting Dark go and heading over to Marvin, taking his husband’s hand and leaving Dark alone in the room. 

“Chrysanthemums…” Dark could feel his own smile forming. 


	26. Taken Away

Dark made his way into the control room, the slight, fuzzy feeling in his chest made it hard for him to resist the urge to smile as he walked over to Google and Bing. Dark knew what was causing this feeling and he knew that the one that was running through his thoughts was making him so...warm. 

“That’s practically across the country,” Bing said in a soft whine, standing behind the chair Google was sitting on looking at the laptop Google had on his legs. 

“It’s larger than our previous area, meaning a larger building and a larger building means more room, larger rooms, bigger beds, more-” Google stopped when Bing wrapped his arms around him.

“But I want to stay near here.” Bing protested, placing his chin on Google’s shoulder. “I really like the Septiceyes.” 

“As do I,” Google admitted, moving a hand to hold Bing’s arms.

“Chase helps me make sure that you eat and speaking of-”

“Bing.” Google groaned.

“Good morning.” Dark’s greeting made Google shut the laptop unconsciously. 

“Morning, Dark.” Bing greeted back, feeling that Google had tensed in his hold. 

“Do you mind if I ask Google a question privately?” Bing was a little shocked that Dark had asked instead of using his usual ‘this is an order’ tone. 

“No problem! I’ll go get us a snack.” Bing said with a smile. “Any preference, Googs?” 

“Lemon squares?” Google asked shyly. 

“Shocker.” Bing teased. “Want me to grab you anything?” He asked Dark.

“I’m good.” 

“I’ll be back, lickety-split.” Bing giggled, giving Google a kiss on the cheek and then heading off towards the kitchen. Google waited for Dark to scoff or make a comment or something, but Dark just watched as Bing happily skipped away, a weird look of understanding in his eyes. 

“What do you need?” Google asked.  

“Could you tell me where you got Bing’s flowers for your anniversary?” 

“Bing’s flowers?” Google was now very lost. “Yes, but, not to be rude or nosy, but why?”

“It’ll be clear later,” Dark stated. 

“Okay…” Google held out the word. “I can give you the address.” 

“Perfect, thank you.” Dark handed Google his phone, knowing that he would program what he needed into it to get him to the place. 

“Chase said you’re the reason their lemon budget has doubled.” Bing laughed when he came back into the room, a plateful of lemon squares was balancing on one hand while he held a bag of chips with the other. “He also said that Dark’s the reason their sugar budget has doubled as well.” 

“They’re both making me have to buy too much sugar.” Chase chuckled, having followed Bing. “I thought Anti was the one with the sweet tooth here.” 

“Edward hates that they have such a strong sweet tooth…sweet teeth? Does it become plural?” Chase only shrugged to answer that question before continuing. 

“You should hear Henrik, though; ‘I don’t care what you are, that much sugar cannot be good for you!’.” Chase started to laugh loudly, since his impersonation of Henrik had been terrible. 

“That’s what Edward says about Dar-” Bing quickly cut himself off. “I-I meant Googs.” 

“I’m heading out for a bit.” Dark said before Chase could fully catch what Bing had been saying. 

“Purple chrysanthemums?” Chase asked with a knowing look.

“Perhaps.” Dark hummed and walked out of the building. 

“Wait, what?” Bing asked.

“I’ll make sense later.” Chase chuckled. Leaving Bing clueless and Google even more confused. 

x~x~x

Dark found himself standing in the center of a beautiful flower shop and the bright variety of colors surrounding him made him feel like he was sticking out like a sore thumb. He wasn’t really known for his colors. He also wasn’t known for flowers if it wasn’t just buying a simple rose to persuade a target to leave with him. 

“Can I help you?” A young woman asked, her green apron with the store’s logo printed on it told Dark that she did work here. 

“I’m looking for some flowers,” Dark answered. 

“I hope so, it’s all we sell here.” The woman, Lindsey, according to her name tag, giggled. 

“I guess you for me there.” Dark flashed one of his best fake smiles knowing he needed to stay fully level and polite if he ever wanted to return. 

“Are you getting them for decoration or for someone?” 

“For someone.” Dark saw Lindsey’s face light up.

“What’s her name.” 

“His name’s Andy.” Dark had prepared the fake name ahead of time, just in case he was asked and making it so that if he misspoke, it was very unlikely that it would be noticed. 

“Oh, my bad.” Lindsey rubbed the side of her head. “Is there a specific kind of flower you’re looking for? Color, type, do you want it in a vase or a handheld bouquet? Do you want matching ribbons for it?” 

“I…” Dark was not ready for a storm of questions. 

“How about we take this one step at a time?” Lindsey gave Dark an understanding smile before taking a notepad and pencil out of her apron pouch. “Tell me what you know and we’ll work our way from there.”  

“Purple chrysanthemums.” Dark watched as Lindsey wrote down what he said, wondering for a second if she knew how to spell chrysanthemums without having to look it up. 

“What else?” There was a long, awkward pause. “Hmm, tell me about Andy, maybe that’ll help me come up with something.” 

“He’s a...co-worker.” Dark held his hands behind his back so he could pick at his fingers without being seen. “He’s eccentric, crude, loud,” Dark kept listing while Lindsey started to look a little worried. “He’s also...caring of his other workers, his family. He’s sarcastic, sassy, overly-flirty and always knows how to make someone laugh.” Dark was unaware of the large smile that was forming on his face and the slight chuckle to his voice. “He’ll act all tough, although he does have the strength to match, but he has a soft heart and he makes a mean cup of tea.” Dark snapped out of his trance when Lindsey squealed. 

“I know exactly what to make for you!” 

“W-Wait…” Dark wasn’t able to stop Lindsey before she took off. “This is a lot more complicated than I’d thought it’d be.” Dark sighed to himself, heading over to a display of flowers, spending some time looking at the colors before groaning when his phone vibrated in his pocket. “Yes?” 

“I heard that someone’s out on a little trip~” Wilford sang into Dark’s ear through the phone speaker. 

“Maybe,” Dark said, fingers gently touching the head of a flower and tilting it towards him. 

“And that trip is about flowers~” Wilford kept singing. 

“Don’t you have to go put your mouth on JJ or something?” Dark scoffed. 

“Sounds like I’m not the only getting some Septiceye loving tonight.” Wilford teased, making a face that Dark could practically hear. 

“Shut up.” Dark grumbled. “I’ll be back later.” He added when he saw Lindsey coming back over to him. “Woah.” Was all Dark could say when he saw the bouquet in her arms. The majority of it was the purple chrysanthemums but there were smaller white flowers in there, along with what looked like black sticks throughout the flower arrangement. 

“Purple chrysanthemums, white calla lilies, and black colored twigs.” Lindsey described, handing the flowers to Dark. “Do you like it?” 

“It’s perfect.” Dark was still in awe. 

“You definitely don’t flower much, do you?” Lindsey giggled. “Register’s over here, I already have them ringed up, all you have to do is pay.”  Dark gave Lindsey a real smile this time and after paying for the bouquet, he couldn’t stop smiling the entire trip back to the headquarters. 

“What do you mean you don’t know where they are!?” Dark could feel the sudden shift in the air when he stepped into the control room, flowers hiding behind his back. Marvin was yelling at Henrik, eyes wide in fear. 

“I mean I don’t know where they are,” Henrik said. “Chase has been gone since he got a phone call an hour ago.”  

“And Anti?” 

“Same case.” 

“What’s going on?” Dark asked, walking up to the two, still keeping his flowers hidden. 

“Chase and Anti are missing,” Marvin said. 

“Missing?” 

“We’re used to Anti running off with little warning but Chase always at least leave me a note if he’s going to leave.” Marvin was now beginning to pace. “What even was that phone call about?” 

“I don’t know,” Henrik said. 

“Why’s Marvin yelling?” Yandere asked as she came into the room with the rest of the Ipliers. 

“We’ve checked everywhere and we can’t find either of them,” Jackie said as he Robbie and JJ came in as well. 

“Bing, Google, try to hack into Chase’s phone and see if you can trace the phone call at all,” Dark ordered, snapping into action. 

“Is that a bouquet?” Robbie asked. 

“Later. First, we need to-” Dark stopped when one of the screens on the control panel turned on and showed static. 

“A countdown?” Bim said when a timer showed up in red on the screen. 

“A countdown to what?” Wilford asked. The screen underneath the timer went to static as well and quickly changed to a survellance camera. 

“It’s them!” Marvin cried out. Chase and Anti were both tied to chairs and together, a thick, metallic object on their necks and by the blinking red lights, everyone could tell what they were. 

Dark’s hand went numb and the bouquet fell to the ground, feeling as if his heart had gone down with it. 


	27. The Last Secret

“Bing, Google, try to track their location. Host, see if you can figure out anything without hurting yourself. Edward and Henrick, make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. Jackie, Wilford, JJ, Bim, and Yandere, go to the vault and grab every weapon that you possibly can because whoever the bastard that took my husband and child is going to rue the day they fucking pissed off this gay man!” Marvin was now rapidly pressing buttons on the control panel and line after line of code began scrolling on the remaining screens. 

Dark was paralyzed, eyes wide and fixated on the screen that had Anti and Chase on it. 

Was this a sign?

Should he have never thought that it would ever happen?

Was this his fault?

“Do you have any idea of anyone that would do this?” Bing asked.

“The bigger question is, who’s capable of doing this?” Google added. “Someone managed to trap a literal virus and a bulletproof man. They have to be like us to some degree.” 

“I honestly have no idea who they are, but they won’t be alive much longer when we get them back,” Marvin stated. 

“Anti…” Chase’s voice came through the speaker. 

“We have sound!” Bing announced. 

“It’s okay, we’re gonna be okay...right?” Anti was twitching, shaking as if struggling to keep still. 

“Shit, he’s anxious.” Marvin’s voice was heavy with fear. 

“I mean, understandably so, but why are you making it sound like a death sentence?” Edward asked. 

“He glitches,” Marvin said. “Phases in and out of this world and the one online.” 

“The bomb on his neck,” Henrick added. “If he glitches too much…” Henrick had his voice trail off, knowing that it didn’t need to be said. 

“Surly Anti can handle an explosion easily,” Edward said. “Or glitch away from it.” 

“Chase can’t.” The room went dead silent. 

“Anti, get out of here,” Chase said. 

“If I glitch out of this thing will go off.” Anti protested. 

“I know.” Chase’s voice was barely a whisper.

“You’re bulletproof, not bomb proof.” 

“I know.” 

“Chase!” Anti snapped. “Don’t you dare!” 

“It’ll be okay, you have the others and-”

“No, no it won’t be okay!” Anti cried out. “It won’t be okay without you!” 

“I’ve had a good life and...I have a good family.” Chase swallowed thickly. 

“I am not leaving you to die,” Anti said with gritted teeth. “I need you.” 

“Marvin will be there for you and Henrick and Jackie and Robbie and JJ...and Dark.” 

“They’re not you, Chase. No one can ever be you.” 

“After what those monsters did to my kids, I never thought I’d be a parent again. To have someone look up to me, to need me and for someone for me to care for.” Chase’s head slumped over, a sniff filling the room. 

“Chase...please.” 

“I know I’m not actually your parent, hell, I didn’t even have anything to do with your creation and you came out of it as a full-grown man but…” Chase blinked and a tear fell from his eye, landing on his jeans and creating a darker spot. “I know I did a damn good job at making sure you were happy, even though there were flops and mistakes that we both made but in the end I know that I did the best that I could.” 

“Stop talking like you’re not going to make it out of this.” Anti could feel his body trembling, his emotions running high. 

“It’s okay, Anti. Get home safe, please.” 

“I’m not going, I’m not.” Anti shook his head. “I’m not letting you die!” 

“Tell me that one of you has something!” Marvin cried, looking at Bing and Google, both who just refused to meet Marvin’s gaze as they kept working. 

“Host, you’re bleeding,” Edward said as Henrick gathered up bandages. 

“Host will not be useless.” Host stated. 

“You’re going to kill yourself if you keep pushing yourself,” Edward warned. 

“Anti and Chase will die if Host doesn’t!” Host slammed his fist into the top of the control panel, brows going up when he heard a click. 

“The communicators!” Marvin exclaimed, going through the opening and counting what was there. 

“Dark, you haven’t moved,” Wilford said in a whisper. “Are you okay?” 

“You know damn well why I won’t leave you!” Anti had tears flowing down his face as he tried to yell some sense into Chase. 

“Dark?” Wilford tried again. 

“There’s one missing!” Marvin scooped up all of the devices and ran over to the other side of the control panel with them. “If we can figure out which one is gone, we should be able to track it. 

“It’s not gonna be on them,” Jackie said. 

“But one of the bad guys might have it.” Robbie bounced a little. “We can find them!” 

“Host! Fuck!” Edward cursed when Host collapsed on top of him. “Henrik, get fluids! Jackie, help me get Host to the couch.” Edward didn’t have to wait long for Jackie to do his part. 

“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.” Anti sobbed as little parts of his body started to look blurry. “Mom, please.” He begged. “I don’t want you to go, I don’t. I love you, mom.” 

“Dark, you’re going gray.” Wilford looked around to make sure no one else was looking. “Dark, your eyes.” 

“Model, 2-B-5-4-R-S-T!” Marvin watched as Google and Bing both perk up and typed even faster than before. “Hurry!” 

“I love you too, Anti,” Chase said, a soft beeping following. 

“No.” Dark finally spoke, his entire body vanishing in a cloud of black smoke. 

“Found-” Bing slapped his hands over his face when there was a loud explosion, the image becoming static. 

“No! No!” Marvin cried at the top of his lungs. “No! No God, please! No!” 

“Ant…” Robbie fell to his rear, hands over his face as he sobbed into them. 

“Don’t take them, please!” Marvin begged towards the screen. “Don’t take them away from me!” 

“Oh, God.” Yandere whimpered before hiding her face into Bim’s chest, crying into it while Bim held her, crying as well. Edward and Henrick both stared at the screen, stunned as their mouths were frozen open with Host still unconscious next to them. JJ went over to Wilford and held his arm, Wilford adjusted them so he was fully embracing JJ, feeling the silent sobs against him. Bing cried into Google’s shoulder while Google just shook his head in disbelief. Jackie has his hands at his head, pressing them hard against it as he fought his own tears and losing that battle quickly. 

“No...no...no…” Marvin’s voice got softer and softer as he fell to his knees. “Please.” 

“What the fuck?” The curse made Marvin almost break his neck from turning his head so fast.

“Chase!” Marvin cried out and scrambled to his feet, immediately hugging the other man. He covered Chase’s face with kisses, getting a chuckle from him. “I thought I lost you!”

“Love you too, dad,” Anti said with a little smile, yelping when Marvin was now on him and making sure he wasn’t hurt. “I’m fine, I’m fine.” 

“I thought you couldn’t glitch with other people?” Jackie asked. 

“I can’t,” Anti answered. 

“Then how did you…” Everyone followed Anti’s glance as he looked at Dark, who’s skin was now a dull gray and an aura of red and blue surrounding him. 

“I was not expecting that,” Chase said. 

“ _ No. Understand. _ ” JJ signed, shaking his head. 

“I knew something was off, but…” Henrik was at a lost for words.

“Dark, what are you?” Anti asked.

“I’m not human either.” Dark finally admitted. “I don’t know what I am exactly. Dark took several steps, heading over to the fallen bouquet. “Most call me a demon, so that’s the title I go with. I used to formless, a simple consciousness that seeped in from another realm and found a house known for trouble.” JJ felt Wilford stiffen. “The woman wanted to find me, to contact me, to know if I was the cause of everything happening in the house...sadly she didn’t know I wanted a body.” Dark slowly bent down and picked up the flowers. “She’s dead, along with her brother and I took over the body of the brother and while their souls are gone, their energy is what keeps me whole.” Dark started an attempt to fix the bouquet. “But the house had gotten used to my own energy and with me gone, it broke, shattering everything...and one inside of it.” A look over at Wilford told the Septiceyes what they needed to know. “Wilford found me and I found him. I knew what I was and what I will always be. A killer.” Dark faced Anti, flowers between them. “A monster.” Anti took a small step towards Dark. “A monster without feelings, a heart, anything that could be related to actually being a living thing.” Dark took in a shaky breath. “I don’t know I actually thought for a second that I could have anything that would make me...human.” There was a shared silence between Dark and Anti. “I-” Dark didn't get to continue before Anti grabbed him by placing both hands on his cheeks and pulling him in for a kiss. 


	28. Took Long Enough

Dark found himself being frozen once again, completely as he just stared at Anti, who was just giggling at him.

“Don’t you scare us like that again!” Yandere yelled, punching her fists into Dark’s upper arm. “Making us think that they died!”

“I…” Dark managed to get one sound out.

“It’s hard to yell at him when he’s paralyzed.” Yandere pouted.

“This reminds me of when we got together.” Bing chuckled at Google, who just crossed his arms and mumbled some excuses.

“So...yeah.” Anti cleared his throat. “Thanks, for like, you know, saving us.”

“Yeah.” Dark nodded his head.

“I’m getting a newspaper,” Wilford grumbled.

“ _Why_?” JJ asked, shrugging when Wilford only shook his head with a face of annoyance.

“Sorry to interrupt this beautiful moment,” Marvin said, stepping between Dark and Anti. “But I want to say something to Dark real quick.”

“He’s gonna get ‘the talk’,” Jackie said in a whisper to Edward, Bim, and Yandere.

“The talk?” Bim asked.

“What’s the talk?” Yandere added.

“Not the talk.” Edward groaned while Henrik just laughed.

“It’s not the talk, that’s for later.” Marvin corrected. “I actually wanted to thank him.” Marvin took in a deep breath. “You saved my family and for that I owe you.”

“It was nothing.” Dark straightened up, trying to regain his composure.

“It was not nothing. You could have just let them died, or only saved Anti, but you didn’t. All of you Ipliers have practically become one of us, helping us, you all were willing to go straight into action and all of you have, several times since coming into our home. And, with the permission of Chase, I welcome all of you to stay here as long as you want. There’s no need to look for a new home anymore, you’re already there.”

All of the Ipliers went stiff, looking at Dark, hope practically radiating from them. Yandere could be heard whispering ‘please, please, please’. Edward moves closer to Henrik while Wilford did the same with JJ. Dark had his eyes on Anti and Anti gave him a little smile, silently asking him to stay as well.

“Who am I to say no to such a great business offer?” Dark said with a shrug, smiling himself when everyone broke out into cheers.

“So, Dark.” Wilford clapped his hands on Dark’s shoulders. “Does this mean you and Anti are a thing?”

“I-I mean I don’t kn-”

“Yes.” Anti cut Dark’s comment off. “Well, ish, he has to at least take me to dinner before there can be any official title,” Anti added with a wink.

“How long is the period of time before Chase threatens people with a gun?” Wilford asked as he headed over to the man he mentioned.

“Depends on the child,” Chase stated, easily grabbing the gun that was tucked into the back of Wilford’s pants, casually spinning it in his hand and aiming the barrel towards Dark’s head.

“Chase!” Anti huffed

“What happened to mom?” Henrik asked with a chuckle.

“Shut up!” Anti held out the word. “That was a high-stress situation.”

“And there’s a gun in my face,” Dark said.

“I know it won’t really do anything to you,” Chase smirked.

“I still sucks being shot in the face,” Dark stated.

“Blah, blah, blah, hurt him, I hurt you.” Chase lowered the gun and was now aiming at Dark’s crotch. “Clear?”

“Crystal.” Dark took a step back.

“I didn’t even get a dick threat.” Wilford laughed while Dark just rolled his eyes at him and started talking to Bing and Google when they went up to him.

“Marvin’s threats are worse,” Edward said. “They actually hurt.”

“It was just a little spark,” Henrik said in a teasing tone, pressing a kiss to Edward’s temple. “I’ve had worse studying Anti.”

“At least I didn’t threaten your dick,” Marvin said in protest while Chase gave the gun back to Wilford.

“ _Watch. Gun. Better_.” JJ scolded Wilford.

“It’s only Chase that’s done...okay you and Chase.” Wilford corrected himself when JJ twitched his mustache at him.

“I’d shoot anyone’s dick off for you, dear,” Chase said, wrapping his arms around Marvin.

“Please don’t go shooting dicks.” Marvin laughed.

“I could just aim for the balls.” Chase offered.

“You’re terrible.”

“You married me.”

“And I would do it every day.”

“Chay!” Robbie happily ran over to Chase and Marvin, holding a purple flower in his hand. “Ant let me have it.” He giggled as he bounced a little.

“Aw, look at our boy.” Marvin sang a little, seeing that Anti was holding the bouquet of flowers Dark had gotten close to his chest, a large smile on his face as he swayed a little.

“I have a feeling this one will end up better than the other ones,” Chase said quietly. “He looks a lot happier already.”

“I wonder what’s going through his mind?” Marvin hummed.

“Probably how in the world Dark knew to get purple chrysanthemums.” Chase hummed back.

“I think I might be able to make a guess.” Marvin chuckled.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Bing and Google found it,” Dark stated, holding a sheet of paper towards Chase and Marvin. “The address for where you and Anti were.” He added for clarification. “I’m assuming you wish to take some time to rest, recover and do more research before going after them.”

“It’s killing me to not show up and blow the entire thing up myself,” Marvin grumbled. “But I know that’s a bad idea.”

“It’s almost dinner time,” Chase said to Dark, gesturing with his head towards Anti. “He’s not picky.” He added with a wink.

“Oh, uh, thank you.” Dark nodded his head and went over to Anti, hands behind his back and messing with his fingers as he spoke with the other man.

“We’re going to have to set a full plan for these guys,” Marvin said, reading the paper. “Being able to get you and Anti like that does not sound like they’re normal either.”

“They’re not,” Chase stated. “They’re fucked up.”

“Then we’ll fuck them up even more.”


	29. Before The Next Phase

“Why’d you go down alone?” Robbie question made the entire room go quiet, forks placed on plates and the breakfast food now no longer being eaten. 

“What do you mean, Robo?” Chase asked.

“You left yesterday alone, I saw you and never got to ask why.” Robbie was sitting on the floor and looking up at Chase, who sat on a couch with Marvin and Jackie. 

“We never did get a full story on how you two got caught.” Yandere stated. 

“We were a little busy,” Bim said. “But still, you never mentioned it.” 

“I don’t think that matters,” Chase stated. 

“If we know what went wrong, then we can avoid it happening again,” Dark said, looking at Anti when the other man elbowed his side. “What? You won’t tell me either.” 

“We still haven’t had dinner,” Anti mumbled his half-hearted excuse. 

“Do I have to take Chase out too in order to get an answer?” 

“I can shoot your dick off,” Marvin said as a light-hearted warning, his soft smile letting Dark know he was joking. 

“I’m not going to take your husband.” Dark teased back.

“He’s just gonna take your son!” Wilford started laughing. 

“Dark’s going to lose his dick, isn’t he?” Bing chuckled. 

“What’s a dick?” Robbie’s question made the room silent again. 

“Not it!” Chase shouted, placing a finger on the tip of his nose. 

“Really, you haven’t explained what genitalia is to him? With how all of you talk you’d think he'd understand it, or at least no longer ask...about...it.” Dark made a face when he saw that everyone had a finger on their nose and was looking at him. “Really?” 

“You lost, now you gotta talk.” Anti giggled. 

“He’s not mine.” Dark protested. 

“He’s practically adopted you as a third dad,” Google stated. “It’s even obvious to me that Robbie’s your unofficial son.” 

“And Googs doesn’t catch that kind of things,” Bing added with a giggle, giggling more when Google just glared at him.  

“I’m gonna start cleaning up,” Anti said, getting up and walking out of the room. 

“Sounds like a good idea.” Chase followed the other man. 

“You enjoy your talk.” Henrik chuckled and he got up with Edward, leaving as well and the others followed suit. 

“How about you go help the others? No one can scrub as fast as you.” Marvin said to Robbie, who perked up at the compliment and took off with his plate. 

“Why isn’t Chase talking?” Dark asked out loud. 

“He hasn’t talked to me either,” Marvin said into his plate, poking at it with a fork. “We usually tell each other everything but something about this is...different.” Mavin looked up and towards the kitchen, where they could hear the others talking and shouting at each other with laughs. “All he’s told me is that they’re fucked up and wouldn’t go into more detail.” Marvin blinked. “He looked scared when he brought them up like he was scared how I’d feel if I knew the full story.” 

“A bulletproof man and a literal virus were kidnapped and bombed. I can understand why he doesn’t want to explain to his husband what happened.” Dark sat his plate down on the couch where Anti had been. “I haven’t heard a single word about it myself.”

“You’re not dating him,” Marvin stated. 

“We slept together last night.” Dark held up a finger when Marvin sat up and his eyes began to glow. “Not sex, sleep.” Dark clarified. “He knocked on my door in the middle of the night, Wilford was in JJ’s room and Anti said he didn’t want to be alone and went into my bed. Nothing happened.” 

“At least take him out to dinner first.” Marvin cleared his throat as his eyes returned to normal. “And he went to you?” 

“He heard the yelling.” Dark kind of wished he hadn’t had said that, seeing Marvin placing his face into his hands. “Are-”

“We’re fine.” Marvin got up and left the room, going down the hallway. 

“Did I just stumble across something?” Dark asked himself out loud. 

“Marv?” Chase walked out of the kitchen. 

“We need to talk,” Dark said, heading over to Chase. 

“Not now-”

“I need to know what happened. I need to keep my people safe.” Dark placed a hand on Chase’s shoulder. 

“And they-” Chase blinked and he was inside of Dark’s room. “-will be.” Chase looked around. “Really?” 

“What happened?” 

“I’m not-”

“What happened to you and Anti?” Dark stepped close to Chase and sighed when Chase pulled out a gun and had it pressed to his chest. “You’re worse than Wilford.” 

“Better safe than sorry,” Chase said. “And I’m not discussing what happened to me and Anti.” 

“Can you at least tell me why you went alone?” Dark asked. “You make a big spiel about all of us being a family and then you take off. The time with Stacy was one thing but I’m trying to figure out why you did it again.” 

“They had kids.” Chase lowered his gun. “They had a little girl and boy, the same age that...that Penny and Lucas would be today.” 

“Oh.” Dark stepped back. 

“They called and said that they were going to kill them if I didn’t come alone and I figured I could handle it myself, I mean, it sounded like some stupid meat heads that wanted us out of the game and they had the kids, they had him an-and-” Dark watched as Chase started to pace around the room. “They killed them, they killed them, Dark. They waited until I came into the room and fucking shot both of them in the head, I was gonna kill them. I was ready to take out both guns and that was when Anti came in and it’s like they knew it was going to happen, they were ready for him, they-they, zapped him and they said they were going to do the same to him if I didn’t drop my weapons. S-So I did, I did and they got us, they got us and tied us up and-and…” Chase had a hand on his chest and was gasping for air. 

“I...am just gonna.” Dark took Chase’s gun out of his hand and placed it down. “Marvin!?” Dark called out, opening his door. “Marvin! Chase isn’t breathing! I-” Dark’s hands went up when there was suddenly a Marvin shoving him aside. 

“Hey, hey, I’m here, Chase. I’m here.” Marvin went to Chase and placed his hands on his cheeks, having him tilt his head up to look at him. “I need you to breathe, okay? We’re going to count and breathe, okay?” Dark wasn’t sure what to do as the two men...well, breathe'ed at each other. “Name?”

“Chase.”

“My name?”

“Marvin.”

“Favorite color?”

“Your eyes.” 

“And he’s back.” Marvin pressed a kiss to Chase’s forehead. “Let’s get you-”

“They’re like us.” Chase stated, looking at Dark. “Those guys are like us.” 


	30. The Twins

“Yes, I know it’s been...yes, it’s just that...of course, I care...I just don’t think-” Dark pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened to the person on the other end of the phone. “I don’t think it’s safe for them to be here, after what happened to the last...Kathyrn, please-” Dark quickly stood up at the desk in his bedroom. “They’re here now!?” Dark's shout woke Wilford from his nap and he rolled off of the bed with a yelp.

“Wha?”

“The twins!” Dark shouted before taking off.

“I assure you they will be safe here, we have kids of our own.” Chase was speaking to a young woman when Dark came into the room. “Well, kid, I have a habit of calling some of them, children.”

“Welcome to the majority of my friends.” The woman giggled. “There’s the man of the hour.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that you were coming with them?” Dark asked. “Where are they?”

“They went into the kitchen for some snacks, I just made a new batch of lemon squares and Robbie wanted to show them around our home.”

“She knows everything.” Dark quickly clarified. “And I told you that-”

“They kept asking for you, Dark,” Kathryn said. “They missed you and have been crying every day for a week.” Dark just sighed. “They love their uncle.”

“I’m not their-”

“You are.” Kathryn cut Dark off. “Not by blood, but you found them.”

“They don’t know about that part.” Dark scratched the back of his neck.

“Well, we both know how they are, they’ll find out soon.” Kathryn held her arms out and Dark only grumbled before giving her a hug. “They’re stronger than you think. I have to take care of my mother.”

“Is she-”

“She’s fine. She just needs help and I can’t have them there.”

“Are you sure?”

“I have a flight to catch, I’ll call when I land.” Kathryn ruffled Dark’s hair.

“Boo!” Anti glitched into the room next to Kathryn, pouting when she didn’t react at all.

“He’s much cuter in person than how you described him.” Kathryn winked before walking away, leaving a now very embarrassed Dark.

“You said I was cute?” Anti asked with a raised brow at Dark.

“I said that I...liked...your face.” Dark looked away from Anti and sniffed.

“Take him to dinner already, he’s worse at this than me and Marvin were at the beginning.” Chase chuckled.

“You two hate fucked at the beginning,” Anti said with a smirk.

“While that may be true, after the hate fucking-”

“Stop talking to our son about our hate fucking.” Marvin sighed as he came into the room, two younger men rushing in with them.

“Demon!” They greeted happily as they went up to Dark, one holding a microphone and the other a camera.

“CJ, RJ.” Dark greeted back.

“The magical one showed us lemon squares and we want to know if we can ask the others their opinions on them.” The one with the microphone asked as the other nodded his head.

“Permission granted, RJ.” Dark said with a smile. “CJ, your wire’s dragging.”

“Thanks.” CJ said softly, picking up the cord and holding it in his free hand.

“Wait, I didn’t tell them-”

“Virus.” RJ went up to Anti and Anti looked at Dark.

“They have a...talent, for knowing the truth.” Dark shrugged.

“What is your thoughts on the lemon squares?” RJ asked, face serious and CJ moved closer to Anti.

“Mom’s lemon squares are the best.” Anti said and grabbed Dark’s arm, leaning in to whisper into his ear. “I can see why you didn’t want them to be here early on.”

“The bulletproof man is mom?” RJ and CJ shared a look.

“That’s scary.” Chase said.

“It’s helpful.” Dark shrugged.

“I’m heading out.” Jackie slipped a backpack on as he stepped into the control room from the hall.

“Someone looks spiffy.” Marvin chuckled.

“I’m just in jeans.” Jackie slipped back Chase and Marvin and went straight out the door.

“Still spiffy.” Marvin called after him with a laugh.

“He’s going to the library again?” Chase asked, having diverted the twins back to the kitchen when he saw Google and Bing.

“Third time this week.” Marvin confirmed.

“He’s gonna be smarter than the androids at this rate.” Chase said.

“Google’s comment is what is making him want to go.” Anti huffed. “You need to have a talk with your Iplier’s about not being shitty.”

“He was just being blunt, as usual.” Dark said.

“He called him stupid.”

“He called him ill-informed.”

“You’re ill-informed about emotions.” Anti snapped before walking off.

“Aw, their first lover's quarrel.” Chase chuckled.

“They’re not lovers.” Marvin corrected. “They haven’t even gone on a first date yet.”

“It’s been a little hectic here the past week.” Dark crossed his arms.

“If Jackie can go to the library, you can go to dinner.” Chase said.

“Or should we have Kathryn do it for you?” Marvin teased.

“There is another group of hitmen who are just like us and we can’t find a single thing about them and yet they’re able to get two of us. Shouldn’t we be more worried about that?” Dark asked. “You had a literal panic attack over it.”

“I’m shocked you know what that is.” Marvin crossed his own arms. “I’m going to guess that Wilford told you.”

“Again, doesn’t matter, we-”

“Wilford told him.” Chase cut Dark off.

“Definitely.”

“They were going to kill you and Anti!” Dark shouted. “We need to take them out!”

“We need a plan first.” Chase spoke softly and harshly. “We need everyone to be calm and collected before we go after them or we will lose people and I will not lose anyone in my family again.”

“Then we need to make a plan now. We need to stop fucking around like everything is fine and crack down on this.”

“God forbid I want a normal week with my loved ones before throwing them back out into chaos.” Chase spat before turning away.

“I know Marvin agrees with me.” Dark’s comment made Chase stop. “Anti hears your fight every night and comes to me crying about it.”

“We weren’t fighting.”

“Sounded like it when I listened.”

“Dark!” Marvin pushed Dark away by the chest. “You have no right!”

“I am keeping my people safe.” Dark stated. “Now that the twins are here, I have to make sure those others do not get to us.”

“Nice to know you only cared when it’s your people on the line.” Marvin practically hissed and stormed off with Chase right behind him.

“And to think we were finally starting to get along.” Wilford said from the couch, sipping from his drink.

“Shut up, Wilford.”

“You need them to trust you.”

“I know, Wilford.”

“Take Anti out.”

“Wil-fine! Fuck it!” Dark angrily left the room as well, heading straight to Anti’s room.@succos-tacos @positive-potato


	31. Together And Apart

“I’m just saying he has a point!” 

“When have you ever agreed with him!?” 

“I just want the family safe, Chase!”   
“And you think I don’t!?” 

Anti sat curled up to Chase’s and Marvin’s bedroom door, hugging his knees to his chest and sniffing as tears traced the rim of his eyes. 

“I don’t know what you think since you told Dark about what happened to you at the other place before you told me!” 

“It just came out!”

“We tell each other everything! Everything!”

“I didn’t know how to tell you!” 

“‘Hey, there are people like us and are threatening us’. It’s not that hard!” 

“There are people like us and are threatening us. Happy!?” 

“I would have been if you said that a week ago!” 

Anti curled up tighter, feeling the tears rolling down his face now. 

“Anti?” 

“You’re being ridiculous!”

“I’m being ridiculous!? You’re the bulletproof man that let a bomb go around his neck!” 

“I didn’t have a choice! They would have hurt Anti!” 

“Hey, Anti.” Dark crouched down and placed a hand on Anti’s shoulder, getting him to look at him. “You okay?” 

“If you would have talked to me, none of that would have happened!” 

“They had kids, Marvin!” 

“We have magic, Chase!”

“So do they!” 

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Dark straightened back up and helped Anti to his feet, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears. “I think it’s about time I take you out for dinner.” 

“Did Wilford tell you to?” Anti asked with a small smile. 

“I can do things without him.” Dark protested. “But...yeah.” He admitted, getting a giggle from Anti. 

“Should I dress up?”

“Only if you want to, I like you how you are.” 

“I guess you can do some things on your own.” Anti looped his arms through Dark’s. “Now, do we want to actually drive there or have you use your demon smoke?” He asked, walking away from the door with Dark. 

“I feel like the car would be less scary for the others.” 

“But demon smoke sounds more fun~” 

x~x~x

“Shush, you’re going to wake the whole house.” Dark laughed as he and Anti stumbled through the door.

“Let them wake up.” Anti giggled, holding Dark’s hand as he leads Dark to the center of the room. “I just still can’t believe you almost slapped our waiter.” 

“He was being crude.” Dark protested. 

“He was being nice to get a tip.” Anti corrected.

“He watched your ass when you went to the bathroom.”

“Who wouldn’t look at my ass?” Anti grabbed Dark’s tie and pulled him in close. “I bet you were.” 

“When aren’t I watching your ass?” Dark smirked. 

“Looks like someone is a little braver when he’s a little tipsy.” Anti sang. 

“I’m barely buzzed.” Dark leaned in and pressed his lips to Anti’s. 

“Maybe I should get you buzzed more often,” Anti whispered before kissing Dark right back. 

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Dark hummed. “I like your smile, you have these cute little dimples.” 

“I have dimples elsewhere.” Anti winked. 

“Oh? Now, how do I see those?” Dark placed his hands on Anti’s hips and the two started to sway together. 

“You’ll have to remove my clothes, Mr. Iplier.” Anti wrapped his arms around Dark’s neck. “Do you think you can handle that on your own? Or should I call Mr. Warfstache to assist?” 

“I’m sure I can handle this on my own.” Dark chuckled. 

“I’m not so sure, Mr. Warfstache seems more experienced with field work and you’re just an office worker.” 

“I’ve gotten my hands dirty plenty of times,” Dark growled with a grin. 

“Oh, Mr. Iplier, are you going to get me dirty with those large, strong hands of yours?” 

“Only if you-” Dark and Anti both yelped and stepped away from each other when they were sprayed with water. 

“Don’t fuck in my living room,” Mavin grumbled, spray-bottle in hand. “And it’s almost seven a.m. where were you two all night?” 

“Out~” Anti giggled. 

“Go to bed.” 

“You heard him, Mr. Iplier, we should get to bed.” Anti took Dark’s hand and guided him away and down the hall, their laughs echoing as they went. 

“Enjoy it while you can.” Marvin sighed, tossing the bottle to the couch before heading into the kitchen. “One date and they’re in love,” Marvin said under his breath as he worked on making himself some breakfast. “You can spend years trying to gain someone’s trust, their affection, their love.” Marvin grabbed a glass cup and filled it with some water, downing it in one go. “And it can all go away in an instant!” Marvin threw the glass against the wall and watched it shatter. “Damn it!” Marvin cried out. “Damn it.” He said again, voice much softer. Marvin looked at the ring on his finger and he slipped it off. “Damn it.” He said one more time, voice breaking and tears rolling down his cheeks as he placed the ring on the counter. 

“Hello, Mr. Brody. Or, should I not call you that at the moment?” Marvin went stiff when a stranger’s voice came from the living room. 

“Who’s there.” Marvin popped his thumbs as he clenched them, a soft green hue covering them. 

“I’m not necessarily there.” The voice chuckled as Marvin went into the room, seeing that one of the monitors was static. “But I can see and hear all.” 

“You’re one the others, aren’t you?” Marvin asked. 

“That sounds odd, we’ve been calling you the others.” The voice laughed. 

“Who are you?” Marvin demanded.

“Come see me and you’ll know.” The static became an image of a map. “I’ll let you know that I’m a little... _ mad _ .” There was a laugh before it got cut off and the image went away. The printer went off a second, the map now being on paper. Marvin went to the printer and picked it up, chewing the inside of his cheek. 

“I’m not stupid.” Marvin went stiff again when a hand went over his mouth. 

“Too bad.” A voice sang right into his ear before they vanished into a cloud of purple smoke, it settling to the ground and covering it in a layer of dust, taking Marvin with them.


	32. Divorce?

“Ant’...Ant’.” Robbie sang as he knocked on the door. “An-Chay?” Robbie titled his head when he saw that Chase answered the door. 

“Hey, buddy.” Chase greeted, rubbing one of his red eyes. 

“Why are you in Ant’s room?” Robbie asked. 

“It’s a long story.” Chase sighed.

“Are you and Mar’ divorcing?” Robbie’s blunt question made Chase almost cry again.

“Robbo.” Chase placed his hands on Robbie’s shoulders and bent down a little. “Me and Marvin are fine, there’s just some stress right now and we had a bad night.” 

“You’ve had a lot of bad nights.” Robbie said. “It’s scary.” 

“I…” Chase honestly wasn’t sure what to say at the moment. “I know, buddy.” 

“Do you wan’ a hug?” Robbie asked, holding his arms out. 

“I can never say no to a hug.” Chase gave Robbie a forced smiled before hugging him. 

“What in the world am I missing in front of my room?” Anit asked with a laugh, wearing one of Dark’s shirts and had Dark standing next to him. “I just wanted to get cleaned up and I got a hug-fest happening.” 

“Chay and Mar are divorcing.” Robbie said. 

“What!?” Anti’s cheerfulness dropped instantly. “I know you guys have been fighting but-”

“We’re not getting a divorce.” Chase said, straightening back up. “It’s just been...hard lately.”

“We know.” Dark stated, turning his head away and clearing his throat into a fist when Anti just glared at him. 

“We’re not the quietest when we fight, are we?” Chase weakly chuckled. “We’re both just worried for everyone and we have opposing views on what to do and we just don’t know-”

“Why not ask everyone?” Dark suggested, getting looks of confusion this time from Chase and Anti. “Hold a vote or an open discussion.” He added to clarify. “Back at the Iplier Headquarters if there was a debate about something between myself and Wilford, we’d hold a meeting to hear out both sides with those who are unbiased and sometimes we even come up with a completely different idea that what was originally brought up.” Anti and Chase just kept staring at him. “I’ll be honest in saying that I have no idea what’s happening at the moment.” 

“That’s not a bad idea.” Chase said quietly. 

“You really do run your family like a business.” Anti mumbled. 

“It was the only way I knew how to deal with people besides Wilford.” Dark admitted.

“We’ll address that problem later.” Chase said as he took Robbie’s hand and walked with him away. 

“What does that-” 

“Go help get breakfast ready.” Anti cut Dark off before popping into his room to change. 

“What?” Dark just said again, taking a moment to take in a deep breath and headed off to the kitchen behind Chase and Robbie. 

“What do you think it means?” Dark heard Henrik whispering. 

“Marvin’s not here but his ring is.” Edward held the piece of metal in his hand. 

“His ring?” Chase released Robbie’s hand and went to the doctors. “He’s not here?” Chase took the ring from Edward, eyes going wide. 

“Chase…” Jackie had his arms around him, backpack on the ground next to his feet as if he dropped it. “What does that mean?” 

“It’s...It’s just-it-it’s.” Chase’s breathing started to stutter and words weren’t coming out clearly anymore. 

“Get him some water.” Henrik instructed. “Chase, stay with me.” He added, snapping his fingers in front of Chase’s face. “I’m sure we’re misreading something.” 

“I tried so hard this time.” Chase said to himself, staring at the ring. “I didn’t want to lose the person I loved again because of my own stupidity.” 

“Marvin wouldn’t just walk out like that.” Henrik stated as he took the cup of water from Edward and offered it to Chase. “We are missing a link and we’ll find it.” 

“ _ This morning, Marvin eat, finish, washed hands, go-to store, ring forgot.”  _ JJ sighed, hope in his eyes. 

“He’d tell us if he was going to the store.” Jackie said. 

“Where are the rest of the Ipliers?” Dark asked. 

“We’re in the living room.” Wilford said, peeking into the kitchen, we figured this was something for us to stay out of.” He added as Anti came in through the other door to the kitchen. 

“What’s going on?” Anti went over to Chase. “Are you...is that…” Anti saw the ring. “Where’s Marvin?” Wilford took Dark by the arm and guided him out of the kitchen, gesturing for Edward to follow and he did after giving Henrik a quick look. “Where’s Marvin?” Anti repeated. 

“We don’t know.” Henrik answered.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Anti snapped. “I thought we figured out how to prevent this after what happened with me and Chase?” 

“Yes, because we can figure out an entirely new system that keeps track of every single person in this house when they decide to be dumbasses and take off on their own instead of talking to the people they claim to be family!” Henrik’s voice got louder and louder as he spoke, eventually screaming right at Anti at the end of it. 

“It’s complicated.” 

“So you keep saying.” Henrik spat. 

“Can we stop fighting for five seconds?” Jackie stepped between the two. “No matter what we think at the moment, we all know Marvin wouldn’t take off without at least leaving a note that said he was going.” 

“ _ Chase, Marvin room look?” _ JJ asked. 

“We’ll split up.” Jackie went over to JJ. “You can check their room like you said for any clues and-”

“I’m sorry for interrupting the family feud, but we’ve noticed something in the control room that we believe all of you would like to see.” Google stated, his face showing that he wasn’t happy to be the one who had to get the Septiceyes. “We belive it might have to do with Marvin.” He added and hopped to the side as the group of men left the room at the mention of Marvin. 

“Perhaps a taste test will-”

“You are not putting it in your mouth.” Dark said, moving CJ and RJ away from a spot on the floor. 

“But it might-”

“I will make you sit on your hands.” Dark warned, sitting the twins down on the couch, only getting pouts in response. 

“Go sit with them.” Jackie said to Robbie, who nodded his head and did what he was told. 

“What about Marvin?” Chase asked when he got to the other gathered Ipliers. “Is he okay?” 

“We don’t know, but this stuff makes us think something bad happened.” Bing touched what looked like purple dust that was on the ground. “We have no clue what the hell it is.” 

“None of our sensors can detect anything.” Google added. “It’s not metal nor any type of soft material, it’s not even colored dirt.” 

“The only thing we can get is that it’s similar to the feeling of when Marvin uses his magic near us.” Bing sat down on the ground now. “But you guys are green.”

“Has Marvin ever done anything to make purple?” Bim asked. 

“Maybe it’s a special kind of spell.” Yandere suggested. “Like maybe emotions are green and materials are...wait, no, that’s not right.” 

“Host can feel something...wrong.” Host’s voice made everyone stop and look at him, waiting to see if anything else would follow and that was when Host went stiff. “Similar, but different, same means but different methods. A pitch-black dream that will haunt you for days with static tears flowing down your face and anger in the air.” 

“Was that a prophecy?” Henrik asked Edward in a whisper, getting a nod in response. 

“That’s vague as hell.” Anti said. “How are we supposed to know what to do with that?”

“The others.” Dark and Chase said together and Anti cursed, turning into a shout when there was loud static that filled the room.

“That’s right!” A voice laughed. “Come and find him before it’s too late, lover-boy!” 

“Who are you!?” Chase demanded into the air. 

“You’ll find out, sooner rather than later.” The voice giggled before cutting off, leaving everyone in silence. 

“That’s it.” Dark went up to the control board. “No more fighting, no more debating, we aren’t just looking for revenge. We are on a hunt.”


	33. Hunt

Marvin could only gasp for air as he stared at the ground, watching blood trickle off of his face and joining the other puddles. A swallow told him that his throat was screamed raw and being unable to open one of his eyes fully let him know that it was swollen. He flinched when a hand went to his chin, slowly forcing him to look up and was greeted with dark purple eyes. 

“Are you ready to talk?” The owner of the eyes asked, two sharp teeth poking out as he grinned. 

“Choke on a cock.” Marvin said between gritted teeth. 

“Too bad.” The person took a harsher grip on Marvin’s chin before punching him across the face, stepping away towards another person, who sat in their own chair, playing with a cane in his hand.

“Let me play, let me play.” A third person begged, bouncing around on his feet. “You’ve let your brother have all the fun.” He added as a wine. 

“Perhaps a little madness will help him break.” The one who came across as the leader said. “Five minutes and we’ll check on him again.” 

“I’ll break him in half that.” The smallest of the three giggled before vanishing in a blink, appearing behind Marvin. “What are you scared of kitty-man?” The man grabbed both sides of Marvin’s head and jerked it back, his fingers digging into his skin. He leaned over and he started to quietly sing. “What will cause you to snap? What will break you? What will make you cry and scream and beg for death to free you from the horror inside of your soul?” 

“No.” Marvin’s eyes went green. “No, you are not.” 

“Those marks on his face are getting brighter.” The leader hummed to himself. “Interesting.” He added as he looked at Marvin’s mask in his hand. 

“Ow!” The man holding Marvin shouted, shoving Marvin away from him and rubbing at his eyes. “Why can he block me out!? No one can block me out!” 

“I think those marks have something to do with it.” The leader finally stood and tossed the mask across the room, landing in the lap of a fourth, hidden person, who had been in the corner the entire time, hands over his ears. The fourth person blinked their black eyes and touched the mask with a hand, their tears no longer flowing as they found comfort in the cat-shaped item. 

“Are you saying he’s magical?” The leader’s brother asked. “Do you think he’s like us?” 

“No, but they do have someone like us and someone like him.” A point towards the one in the corner. “And he’s not telling us about them.” The leader reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, the sound of the blade coming out getting everyone in the room to look at him. “I just want names, cat.” The man stepped close to Marvin, pressing the knife to his neck and getting Marvin to look up again. “I just want to know who you have in that little house of yours.” 

“Fuck you.” Marvin cursed. 

“Last chance, or we’ll see how well you can resist my friend’s insanity without those marks on your face.” 

“I will not turn in my family.” 

“Your funeral.” The leader placed a hand over Marvin's mouth and started to carve into his cheek, muffling his screams only slightly. The hidden person hugged the mask to their chest, curling up and crying once again. 

“Suck it up, small-fry.” The leader’s brother scolded and the person only kept crying as Marvin’s cries echoed in the room. 

x~x~x

“I don’t know why I thought where you and Chase were taken would give us anything.” Dark groaned to himself. “It just gave us dead-ends.” 

“It was something.” Anti rubbed his temples. “Maybe we’re not taking this how we should.” 

“What?”

“They’re like us, what do we have that’s different than other people?” Dark just kept looking. “Powers.” Anti answered himself. “How are they able to get into our control panel without leaving a single trace, not even something that says we were hacked into?” 

“You don’t think…”

“Chase is the only one the remembers what they were able to do, what if they have someone like me?” Anti jumped up and ran out of the room. “Chase! Chase!” 

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” Jackie said to Chase. “It’ll be five minutes at the most.” 

“You can go one day without the library.” Chase stated as he worked on the control panel, Bing and Google working with him. 

“But I need to go.” Jackie pleaded. 

“If you’re dying to read, we have a library downstairs.” Chase’s irritation was starting to become clear. 

“It’s a little more than that.” Jackie mumbled. “Just let me-”

“Listen to me, for once!” Chase snapped, punching his hands on the control panel. 

“I’m going!” Jackie snapped back and ran off. 

“Jackie! Jackie!” Chase shouted after the young man, cursing and hitting the control panel again when Jackie was gone. “Damn it!” 

“I’ll go after him.” Wilford offered, looking at Dark to make sure it was fine. Dark nodded his approval and Wilford was soon gone as well. 

“I just don’t want to lose my family again.” Chase said, hand wiping away tears. 

“And you’re not, I have an idea.” Anti said. “Let me go into the computer and see if I can find my own trace for where the others are.” 

“I don’t know how safe that is.” Chase said. 

“The control panel is where I came from, that’s my place. I’ll be safer there than here.” Anti protested. 

“Take an earpiece with you, I want to be able to check on you whenever I want.” Chase said. 

“I’ll be safe, I promise.” Anti went to the end of the control panel, getting an earpiece. 

“If they would just send a video of Marvin, I could get him.” Dark said to himself. 

“They must have learned from last time.” Chase said. 

“They won’t learn anything else when they’re dead.” Dark stated. “No one escapes from an Iplier hunt.” 

“I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything.” Anti said, making sure the earpiece was on correctly. “If I’m right, I shouldn’t be long.” 

“Please be safe.” Chase said. 

“Dying’s not fun.” Anti winked before becoming a cloud of pixels, going straight into one of the monitors. 


	34. Blank Space

Anti could feel the electricity around him fill him with an endless energy, he could move forever and never tire when in here and when he would come out, he’d feel as if he just took the best nap in the world, which he has to do from time to time to prevent himself from getting worn down when using his powers. 

“Bad sounds, bad, bad sounds.” A voice whimpered, echoing in the stream. 

“I knew it,” Anti growled before taking off towards the voice. He found himself crosses through several different internet streams from different homes, some of them stronger than others but charging him either way. 

“I don’t like it. I don’t like it.” Anti stopped when he found a small man balled up in the middle of a streamline, tears rolling down his cheeks as he held his hands over his ears. “It’s...it’s mean and bad.” The man had bright blue hair that reflected Anti’s own green.

“You!” Anti shouted, finding himself going stiff as well when he got a good look at the other man’s face, seeing that his eyes were purely black and what looked like circuits framed parts of his face, making his hollow cheeks look deeper and large eyes sunken in. “Come here!” Anti snapped out of his gaze first and flew towards the stranger.

“No!” The man cried out, a strong pulse of energy hit Anti and sent him flying back a few yards. 

“Wait!” Anti flew again when he saw that the man was running, well, flying, away. “Let me talk to you!” Anti shouted as he chased after the man, not taking long to catch him since the stranger didn’t seem to know how the streams worked as well as Anti did. Anti caught the man by wrapping his arms around him but ended up sending both of them out of a stream and through a computer monitor. 

“Mommy!” A young voice screamed after Anti landed. Anti blinked, growling when he saw that the stranger was gone and then sighed when he found a little girl in bed, staring at him with wide eyes filled with fear. 

“It’s okay, don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you or anything,” Anti said in a soft and kind voice. “Did you see someone with blue hair come with me?” The girl just sniffed. “I’m just looking for my friend, okay?”

“Friend?” The girl held her covers close to her face but her eyes had no fear in them now.

“Mr. Blue man, did you see him?” The girl nodded and pointed at her TV. “He went in there?” Another head nod. “Shit.” 

“Language.” The girl scolded. Anti couldn’t help himself from laughing before giving the girl a smile, making sure his sharp teeth were hidden. 

“I’ll be sure to keep an eye on there. I have to go now.” 

“Bye-Bye, green man.” The girl waved a little and Anti waved back as he jumped into the TV, twitching a little when making it through. He preferred using things connected to the internet to make it to the stream, it was less, crunchy. “Why did she have a computer and TV in her room?” Anti asked as he looked through the little screen that used to be the TV he came through. “Electronics isn’t parenting.” He added with a mumble and a cross of his arms. “Lazy.” He held out the word before hearing the stranger’s voice from further down the stream. 

“Lost, lost, lost.” The man was holding himself as he traveled, his eyes wide like the little girl’s. Anti chewed on his cheek before jumping onto a faster stream and quickly catching up with the man, holding his hands out when he was about to scream at him. 

“It’s okay. I don’t want to hurt you.” Anti tried the same calm voice, the voice he uses for Robbie. 

“You’re lying. They all lie, they all hurt, it’s all they want.” The man moved away from Anti but wasn’t completely running anymore. 

“It’s all who wants?” Anti crossed his legs midair, making himself look smaller. 

“I don’t get it, it doesn’t make sense with anything I’ve looked up. I thought people were supposed to be nice.” The man started to pick at his fingers. Anti could recognize those movements, the slight jitter as the man talked, the twitching the overall confusion about everything. 

“My name is Anti.” Anti moved only a little closer to the man. “And you?” 

“I’m…” The man paused as if trying to remember it. “Blank.” 

“Blank?” Anti asked, only to give the man a second chance to think on it just like he had when he was so young.

“Yeah, Blank.” The man nodded. 

“How old are you?” Anti asked and Blank looked at himself. 

“Uh...twenty-something.” Blank gave his side a poke, examining his body and trying to calculate.

“I mean, how long have you been conscious?” Anti saw Blank perk up as if this being the first time someone asked him. 

“Two months ago.” Anti could feel his heartstrings being plucked. He was so young, so new, so naive. 

“I was formed about five years ago, Marvin’s better at keeping track of the date than I am.” 

“Marvin?” Blank asked.

“He’s the one that used magic to create me, he’s basically my dad, do you have someone like that?” 

“Yeah! Oh…” Blank slumped a little. “Kind of.” 

“Kind of?” 

“I mean, he made me with his magic stuff, but I don’t call him dad.” 

“Is he not nice to you?” Anti was now closer and no longer cross-legged.

“No. None of them are.” Blank sniffed and tears started to form in his eyes again. “They yell and scream and fight and call me things I know are mean and I don’t like it.” 

“It’s okay buddy.” Anti placed a gentle hand on Blank’s shoulder. “My family is nice. I’ll admit we’re a little loud, but that’s just cause we can’t control our volume.” Anti smiled when he got a little laugh to come out of Blank. 

“I need to get back, he’ll get angry.” Blank started to shake a little. “He’s scary when angry.” 

“Your creator?” 

“He’s a bad dream that follows you, a sour taste on your tongue that won’t leave, a burning pain in your side that you can’t treat,” Blank spoke in a monotone voice as he stared at nothing. 

“Blank, Blank, buddy, come back to me.” Anti snapped his fingers in front of Blank’s face. 

“He’s bad, he’s a bad, bad...demon.” Anti stiffened at the word, allowing Blank to hug him and start sobbing. 

“A demon,” Anti repeated to himself. “Great.” 


	35. Learning Spark

“Everyone sit down and be quiet,” Chase ordered as soon as one of the screens turned to static on the control panel. Everyone obeyed right away without a second thought, even Dark did as well. Anti popped out of the screen with Blank at his side, the younger Virus’ eyes went wide when he saw the number of people and he began to tremble slightly with fear. 

“His name is Blank,” Anti said for the others in the room. 

“Hey Blank, I’m Chase.” Chase greeted with a soft and kind tone, crouching down so he was slightly shorter than Blank. “Do you want anything? A drink? A snack?” Blank just looked at Anti as if waiting for permission and when Anti nodded he did as well. 

“Some water.” Blank’s voice was barely above a whisper. 

“I’ll get it.” Bim offered and stepped out. 

“I promise that we’re good people, we won’t hurt you,” Chase said.

“Everyone is the good guys in their own eyes.” Blank stated, but the way he spoke made the words sound like they weren’t his own. “You kill for hire.” 

“We do,” Chase admitted, knowing there was no point in lying. “But it’s more complicated than that.” 

“Is it?” Blank started to pick at his fingers. 

“We only take jobs from those who wish to prevent any more suffering. Who want really really bad guys dead. The kind of bad guys that kill more with just a simple wave of their hand than we ever have in our years doing this.” 

“I just want peace.” Blank whimpered, flinching away when Bim walked up to him and held the cup of water out. 

“Bim good,” Robbie said from the spot on the floor he sat on. “He’s just fancy.” He added with a giggle. 

“Fancy?” Blank giggled as well.

“Why is that funny?” Bim asked.

“I think it’s hilarious.” Anti chuckled and took the cup from Bim, who just sighed and sat back down next to Yandere. “Mom already knows everything that you told me, I sent what’s basically a transcript.” 

“Mom?” Blank looked at Chase and tilted his head. “Who’s dad?” 

“The man that your creator took, my husband.” Blank went stiff when Chase said the last word. 

“Husband? Your loved one?” Blank glanced at Chase’s hands and saw that he was wearing two rings. “He’s your loved one? The one you want forever?” 

“Yes, yes, he is.” Chase placed a hand on Blank’s shoulder. “Please help me get him back, please.” The circuits on Blank’s face flashed a quick blue. Chase hissed in pain and yanked his hand away, using his free one to hold it out towards the others when they moved to defend him, all except for Henrik though. 

“He’s definitely been with some bad people.” Chase sighed as he moved his fingers, slowly getting feeling back into them. 

“Is that the learning spark you were talking about?” Edward asked.

“Learning spark?” Dark gave Edward a disproving look for not talking to him about something. 

“Henrik just brought it up the other day,” Edward said in defense. “When Anti was first made, there were a lot of things he couldn’t learn from just looking it up on the internet. Mostly types of emotions that are beyond basics.”

“I still don’t understand,” Dark said. 

“Blank was made the same way Anti was, so it’s safe to assume he works the same way,” Henrik stated. “Anti was created with a base form of knowledge due to coming from something connected to the internet. Such as basic history, biology, math, language, and the works that someone that was Marvin’s ago would know.” 

“He doesn’t act like the age it looks like he’s been formed into,” Dark said, not catching that Blank shrunk a little at his comment. “He seems young.”

“So was Anti,” Chase said. “He spoke young, acted young because he was young.” 

“Blank’s barely been alive,” Anti said, giving Dark a look that told him he messed up. 

“What does the spark mean?” Dark asked, changing the subject to get Anti to change his facial expression. 

“It just means he learned something new.” Henrik shrugged. “I’m still trying to figure out why it happens, but whenever Anti learns something new, a little bit of electricity comes out of him. He’s learned to control it and have it come out of a different location on his body of someone’s touching him, but clearly, Blank’s not yet learned that and he shocked Chase. He saw what love was by looking at Chase and it was new to him.”  

“I’m sorry.” Blank was on the verge of tears and was shaking again. “I did-didn’t mean t-to.” 

“You’re not in trouble, buddy.” Anti gave Blank a smile and Blank shook his head, as if not believing him. 

“They say that and they still hurt me anyways.” Blank hugged himself. 

“Blank, can you roll up your sleeves?” Chase asked and Blank’s eyes went wide once more. 

“W-Why?” 

“I just want to see something, okay?” Chase waited for Blank to look at Anti again and when Anti tugged at his own sleeves, Blank did the same. “That’s what I thought.” Chase sighed when he saw the dark bruises on Blank’s arms. “Are there more of them?” Blank only nodded. “Can I give you a hug?” 

“Okay.” 

“I’ll be soft.” Chase moved close to Blank and wrapped his arms around the small man, confirming his thought. Blank was nothing more than skin and bones, he could practically feel every rib poking into him. He looked at Anti and the two shared a look that they both knew about Blank’s size. “Jackie, make some food for Blank,” Chase said when he let Blank go. 

“But I-”

“I’ll eat with ya, I’m starving.” Anti gave blank a smile. “What sounds good to ya?”

“Pizza?” Blank perked up when Anti chuckled. 

“Fuck yeah, let’s make some pizza.” Anti guided Blank towards the kitchen and Jackie went with them, Robbie popping up and joining them when Chase gestured with his head for him to. 

“Why did you hug him?” Google asked. 

“Nothing wrong with hugs,” Bing said with a shrug.

“You wanted to see how big he was, didn’t you?” Henrik asked. “After seeing those bruises, I would have made the same assumption as well.” 

“Is Blank not eating?” Edward asked. 

“More like he’s not being fed what he needs.” Chase corrected. “He needs a lot more food than you’d think he would.” 

“So, it’s hard to guess if he’s being denied food or if they don’t know any better,” Wilford said. 

“If they caused those bruises, I wouldn’t be shocked either way,” Chase grumbled. “Anti will be able to tell out of all of us since he’s a Virus as well.” 

“What do we do? Feed him and then ask where the others are? Do we really think he’ll do that, he seems terrified of them.” Dark said. 

“If they rely on Blank for what I believe they do. They'll be getting a hold of us any second now.” Chase said and soon one of the control panel screens went to static. 

“You have something I want.” A voice they have yet to hear stated. 

“As do you,” Chase said back, not even facing the screen. 

“Give him back.” 

“Give him back,” Chase repeated. 

“I see we’ve come to standstill.” The voice cleared his throat. “Tell Blank to take you to the First Location, he’ll know what it means and we’ll have a trade-off. I’ll be seeing you with him in twenty minutes. I know you’ll be able to get there in time.” 

“What do you think he means by that?” Yandere asked. 

“Host suggests we make a plan.” Host stated. “He is unable to tell what exactly it is, but something...fishy is going to happen.” 


End file.
